TRAINING 
INFANTRY 


BY 

JOHN  F.  MORRISON 

Colonel  of  Infantry 


U.  S.  CAVALRY  ASSOCIATION 

Fort  Leaven  worth.    Kansas 
1914 


/\A* 


.COPYRIGHT,  1914,  BY  JOHN  F.  MORRISON 


Ketcheson  Printing  Company 
Leavenworth 


t g- 


PREFACE 

In  my  commissioned  service  of  over  thirty- three 
years  I  have  spent  over  twenty- two  years  with  my 
regiment  and  three  years  in  training  a  battalion  of 
college  cadets.  I  have  been  intimately  associated 
with  the  national  guard  of  one  state  and  have  had 
experience  with  the  guard  of  four  other  states.  I 
have  seen  something  of  foreign  troops  in  both  peace 
and  war.  In  these  many  years  I  have  observed  the 
methods  of  training  employed  by  a  number  of 
officers. 

Our  infantry  training  has  improved  over  what  I 
first  knew  but  there  still  exists  in  places  a  lack  of 
completeness  and  system.  Of  late  years  a  much 
greater  interest  than  formerly  has  been  taken  in  the 
tactical  instruction  and  training  of  our  officers  and 
the  progress  has  been  marked.  The  tactician  is, 
however,  but  the  skilled  mechanic;  the  tools  with 
which  he  works  are  his  troops.  New  recruits  are 
like  the  lump  of  ore,  of  no  use  until  converted  into 
steel  and  then  forged  into  shape.  The  making  of 
this  tool  from  the  raw  material  is  our  principal 
business  during 


4  .•. 


At  the  request  of  officers  with  whom  I  have 
often  talked  and  corresponded  on  the  subject  of 
training  infantry,  this  little  book  of  suggestions  has 
been  prepared.  It  is  based  on  my  own  experience 
and  observation  and  what  others  have  told  me  of 
their  work.  It  is  offered  by  an  older  officer  to  his 
younger  brothers  in  the  infantry  in  the  hope  that 

it  may  be  of  some  service  to  them. 

J.  F.  M. 


CONTENTS 

PAGH 

PREFACE 3 

INTRODUCTION  .          ....      7 

CHAPTER 

I    THE  ESSENTIAL  AND  THE  DESIRABLE         9 

KNOWLEDGE  AND  HABIT 
II    GENERAL  DISTRIBUTION  OF  TIME  19 

WINTER  AND  SUMMER  WORK 

III  FIRE  SUPERIORITY         ...         32 
FIRE     DISTRIBUTION,    CONTROL    AND 
DISCIPLINE,  SIGNALS 

IV  COMBAT 44 

THE  COMPANY,  BATTALION,  REGIMENT 

V    ARTILLERY  FIRE  ...         70 

EFFECTIVENESS,  FORMATIONS  TO  MEET 
TEAM  PLAY 

VI    PATROLS,  ADVANCE  AND  REAR  GUARDS,    89 
OUTPOSTS 

VII    MARCHING 104 

PREPARATIONS,  INSTRUCTION,  PRACTICE 
VIII    THE  NATIONAL  GUARD   ...       113 
ESSENTIAL    TRAINING    FOR,    ARMORY 
WORK  AND  SUMMER  CAMPS 

5 


i  CONTENTS 

IX    INSPECTIONS         ....       130 
YEARLY,  COMPANY  AND  BATTALION 
EXAMINATIONS 

X    TRAINING  A  NEW  REGIMENT  .        134 

PRINCIPLES,  SCHEDULE  FOR 

XI    RECRUITING          ....       161 

NEED  FOR  A  CHANGE,  PLAN,  REASONS 
XII    IN  CONCLUSION         .         .         .         .177 
RELATIVE  VALUES,  STRENGTH  OF  THE 
COMPANY,  OUR  RESPONSIBILITY 


INTRODUCTION 

There  is  nothing  more  important  to  an 
army  than   the  correct  training  of  its  in-  impor- 
fantry.     The  training  of  all  the  arms  has  *an.ce.  of 

training 

much    in    common,    but    training   infantry,  infantry 
owing  to  the  manner  of  its  use  in  battle,  calls 
for  much   that  is  not  required  in  the  other 
arms. 

The  infantry  soldier  must  work  more  in- 
dependently than  men  in  the  other  branches. 
He  cannot  be  led  or  controlled  as  can  men 
in  groups  or  close  formations;  hence  he  needs 
to  be  more  thoroughly  instructed  in  the  part 
he  is  to  play.  This  instruction  cannot  be 
given  him  on  the  field  of  battle.  The  man 
who  must  steadily  advance  on  an  enemy  in 
position  requires  not  only  higher  training 
but  higher  discipline  than  one  who  does  his 
fighting  in  close  formation,  or  at  long  range 
and  out  of  sight  of  the  enemy  and  protected 
from  hostile  fire  by  steel  shields. 

The  mere  mechanical  part  of  the  drill  of 
all  the  arms  is  not  difficult  as  regards  its 
execution  on  the  peaceful  drillground  but  it 
requires  much  training  to  carry  out  these 
same  things  on  the  battlefield. 
7 


'  8*'  * 'fNTRODUCTION 

It  is  reported  as  an  incident  in  the  recent 
impor-    Balkan  War  that  a  general  of  division,  whose 
tance  o    |nfan^ry  j^d  been  reinforced  by  the  addition 
training  of  fifty  per  cent  of  recruits  who  had  only  re- 
ceived about  a  month's  training,  prepared  for 
battle  by  sending  all  his  new  men  to  the  rear, 
preferring  to  fight  without  them.     His  divi- 
sion was  successful  but  the  other  divisions, 
which  retained  their  new  men  in  ranks  during 
combat,  broke  and  were  routed. 

War  of  today  is  not  a  game  for  amateurs. 
Infantry  to  be  of  any  value  has  not  only 
to  be  trained  but  to  be  properly  and  thor- 
oughly trained.  On  the  part  of  those  in 
charge  of  this  training  there  is  necessary  an 
appreciative  understanding  of  the  objects 
sought,  earnest  effort,  tact,  enthusiasm,  and 
a  real  knowledge  of  men. 


T 


THE  ESSENTIAL  AND   THE   DESIRABLE 
KNOWLEDGE  AND  HABIT 

0  ensure  the  proper  training  of  our  in- 
fantry   there    are    needed    competent  Practice 
officers — officers  who  know  what  should  be  a" 

theory 

taught  and  how  to  teach  it.  One  some- 
times hears:  "He  is  a  good  practical  soldier 
but  he  knows  nothing  of  the  theory."  Such 
an  expression  is  an  absurdity.  A  man  may 
know  the  theory  yet  be  unable  to  apply  it  or 
make  practical  use  of  it;  we  have  all  seen 
such  men.  But  a  man  cannot  practice  what 
he  does  not  know.  The  knowledge  of  theory 
required  by  the  junior  commander  is  not 
great  and  the  time  it  takes  to  learn  it  is  short 
compared  with  the  time  required  to  master 
its  practical  application  and  to  instruct  prop- 
erly a  command. 

The  first  requisite  for  a  unit  commander 
is  a  knowledge  of  the  fundamental  principles  Needs  of 
of  the  tactics  of  his  arm  and  its  employment 

com- 

in  combination  with  the  other  arms,  especi-  mander 
ally  with  the  artillery.     He  must  have  a  clear 
9 


10  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

conception  of  the  modern  battlefield  in  order 
Needs  of  to  understand  for  what  he  must  train  his  unit, 
t  e  umt  jje  mus£  train  it  for  battle  conditions,  not 

com- 
mander   peace  conditions.     A  company  trained  to  be 

handled  exclusively  by  word  of  command,  as 
in  a  close  order  drill  on  the  parade  ground, 
lacks  the  training  that  fits  for  battle. 

The  more  the  enlisted  men  know  of  the 
art  of  war  the  better.     Time  is  not  available 
however,  to  teach  them  the  whole  art  of  war 
even  if  the  men  in  ranks  were  capable  of 
mastering  it.     The  instructor  must  therefore 
clearly  understand  what  are  the  things  the 
Essential  men  must  know  and  what  are  merely  desirable 
desirable  as  ac^ditions  to  their  training.     Every  effort 
instruc-    should  be  spent  and  all  available  time  devoted 
tion          to  first  perfecting  the   men   in   the   things 
they  must  know;  afterwards,  if  more  time  is 
available,  it  is  well  to  extend  in   other   di- 
rections their  education  and  training. 

Under  the  first  heading,  essentials,  the 
men  must  be  taught  their  close  order  drill. 
This  is  necessary  tor  two  reasons:  it  renders 
possible  the  orderly  movement  of  troops 
and  it  makes  for  discipline.  So  far  as  the 
orderly  movement  of  troops  is  concerned 
very  little  is  necessary  but  without  precision 
close  order  drill  is  of  no  value  towards  dis- 


THE  ESSENTIAL  AND  THE  DESIRABLE     11 

cipline.  To  have  a  disciplinary  value,  drill 
movements  must  be  carried  out  with  exacti-  close 
tude.  Discipline  is  injured  if,  when  an  offi- 
cer  gives  a  command  at  drill,  it  is  only  carried 
out  approximately;  the  soldier  is  acquiring 
the  habit  of  slighting  his  work  and  of  doing 
an  approximation,  not  the  precise  duty 
demanded  of  him. 

It  takes  but  little  longer  to  learn  to  exe- 
cute correctly  the  few  movements  prescribed 
than  to  learn  them  incorrectly,  but  it  requires 
constant  attention  on  the  part  of  the  in- 
structor to  maintain  exactness.  The  atten- 
tion and  effort  required  on  the  part  of  the 
instructor  are,  however,  amply  compensated 
by  the  results. 

The  men  must  know  perfectly  the  me- 
chanism of  the  extended  order  drill.     A  com-  Extended 
pany  must  be  able  without  confusion  or  mix-  * 
up  to  form  line  of  skirmishers  in  the  least  pos- 
sible time  from  any  formation  and  facing  in 
any  direction.     This  will  necessitate  much 
practice.     It  does  not  take  long  to  learn  to 
form  line  of  skirmishers  quietly,  from  line  or 
column  of  squads,  facing  to  the  front;  but 
that  is  not  sufficient. 

The  men  must  know  how  to  estimate  dis- 
tances, how  to  shoot,  how  to  use  the  bayonet; 


12  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

they  must  understand  patrolling  and  outpost 
Other         duty,  the  construction  of  hasty  intrenchments, 

essentials    ^  appljcatjon  Qf  firgt  2i^}  ^QW  to  COOk  the 

ration  and  how  to  care  for  their  arms  and 
equipment. 

Especially  important  is  it  that  the  men 
know  how  to  march  and  how  to  care  for  them- 
selves in  the  field.  However  well  instructed 
a  soldier  may  be  he  is  of  no  use  if  at  the  time 
of  battle  he  is  back  in  the  hospital. 

Under  the  second  heading,  of  things  that 
Desirable  ft  js  desirable  the   men  should   know,   are 
0     suWects  which  are  essential  for  the  officers  to 


know  but  which  are  not  equally  essential  for 
the  men.  Nevertheless  it  is  an  advantage  to 
have  them  know  as  much  as  possible,  pro- 
vided the  merely  desirable  instruction  does 
not  interfere  with  the  proper  training  in 
essentials.  Among  these  subjects  are  topog- 
raphy and  the  construction  of  temporary 
bridges;  the  lis/  might  be  extended  almost 
indefinitely. 

Things  to  The  instructor  must  further  distinguish 
Btood  and  between  the  essential  things  which  the  men 
things  to  need  merely  to  know  or  to  understand  and 
be  made  those  which  need  to  be  practiced  until  they 
habits  become  habits.  Those  things  the  men  will 
only  be  required  to  do  off  the  battlefield, 


KNOWLEDGE  AND  HABIT  13 

where  they  will  have  time  to  think  and  be  in  Things  to 
condition  to  use  their  heads,  need  only  be  8^0"^an^ 
known.  things  to 

Psychology  teaches  us  that  under  great  be  made 
stress  of  danger  and  excitement  a  man  can  be 
depended  upon  to  do  only  those  things  which 
have  become  fixed  habits,  and  further,  that 
under  these  same  trying  conditions,  a  man 
who  has  acquired  by  practice  a  habit  of  doing 
something  a  certain  way  cannot  do  that 
thing  differently.  Action  contrary  to  habit 
requires  thought,  and  mental  activity  is 
difficult  if  not  impossible  under  the  circum- 
stances. Acting  according  to  habit  is  merely 
following  the  line  of  least  resistance. 

It  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  greater  stress 
of  danger  and  excitement  than  exists  in  a 
modern  battle.  Certainly  there  is  no  other 
case  in  which  the  knowledge  of  this  psycho- 
logical truth  can  be  used  to  greater  advantage 
than  in  training  for  battle. 

As  far  as  possible,  then,  all  those  things 
which  the  men  must  do  under  fire  should  be 
practiced  until  they  become  fixed  habits.  It 
has  been  said  that  if  in  the  heat  of  battle  a 
man  even  raises  his  rifle  to  his  shoulder,  before 
firing,  it  shows  fair  discipline.  Not  only 
must  bringing  the  rifle  to  the  shoulder  be  made 


14  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

a  habit,  but  correct  aiming  and  trigger  pull 
whenever  the  rifle  is  brought  to  the  shoulder 
must  be  made  a  habit,  and  one  so  strongly 
developed  that  these  acts  will  always  be  done 
mechanically  and  without  mental  effort. 

This  desired  result  cannot  be  accom- 
plished by  two  or  three  weeks  a  year  of  target 
practice.  The  training  must  be  continuous 
for  an  extended  period.  To  accomplish  it 
altogether  with  ball  cartridges  would  be  too 
costly  and  often  impracticable.  The  desired 
results  can  be  obtained  by  pointing  and  aim- 
ing drills  and  gallery  practice,  if  these  are  so 
conducted  that  the  men  never  pull  the  trigger 
without  properly  bringing  the  rifle  to  the 
shoulder  and  looking  through  the  sights  at 
some  target. 

A  week  of  continuous  work  every  six 
months  will  not  accomplish  the  results; 
frequent  short  drill  periods  are  necessary. 
A  man  who  starts  in  by  smoking  three  strong 
cigars  every  Christmas  and  Fourth  of  July 
but  not  touching  tobacco  between  times  will 
not  be  so  likely  to  acquire  the  smoking  habit 
as  one  who  starts  very  moderately  and  repeats 
the  act  daily.  Overdoing  any  kind  of  train- 
ing at  one  time,  with  long  intervals  between 
has  a  tendency  to  produce  dislike  rather  than 


KNOWLEDGE  AND  HABIT  15 

a  habit.  A  few  minutes  of  honest  work  at 
least  twice  every  week,  in  pointing  and  aim- 
ing drill  and  gallery  practice,  will  accom- 
plish the  result  desired  and  my  experience 
convinces  me  that  it  also  produces  much 
better  results  on  the  target  range  than  crowd- 
ing even  more  of  this  practice  into  the  last 
month  before  going  on  the  range.  Certainly 
it  is  worth  more  than  the  other  as  a  habit- 
former. 

The  better  a  man  can  shoot  when  the 
range  is  known  to  him  the  more  important  it  Estimat- 
is  that  his  sight  elevation  be  correct.     A  poor  *"*  ^ 
shot  will  scatter  his  bullets  and  may  hit  some- 
thing even  with  a  wrong  elevation  but  the 
accurate  shot  will  not  hit  anything;  yet  the 
correct  range  is  valuable  even  to  the  poor 
shot. 

On  the  battlefield  we  can  count  only  on 
our  estimate  of  the  range;  seldom  will  it  be 
practicable  to  determine  it  otherwise.  Thus 
estimating  distances  has  to  be  made  a  habit 
for  two  reasons:  since  habits  alone  count  in 
battle,  only  by  making  it  a  habit  can  we 
depend  on  its  being  done;  and  second,  it  re- 
quires constant  practice  to  enable  men  to 
estimate  distances  with  fair  accuracy. 

Devoting  two  or  three  consecutive  days 


16  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

annually  to  estimating  distances  is  almost  a 
Estimat-  Waste  of  time;  practice  should  be  had  every 
ing  t  c  week.  I  have  seen  both  methods  used  and  I 

range 

am  certain  as  to  their  relative  values.  How 
this  instruction  should  be  given  will  be 
mentioned  later. 

The  deployments,  advancing  the  attack, 
working  by  signals,  taking  advantage  of 
cover,  and  in  fact  everything  pertaining  to 
combat  from  the  opening  of  fire  until  the  end 
of  the  battle  must  be  practiced  until  it  be- 
comes a  fixed  habit  on  the  part  of  the  men. 

If  we  are  to  have  good  infantry  the  officers 

The         as  instructors  must  be  competent,  have  an 

appreciation  of  relative  values,  be  able  to  dis- 

ttructor  tinguish  between  what  is  essential  and  what 

is  merely  desirable  and  make  sure  of  essentials 

before  spending  time  on  the  latter.     Each 

officer  must  realize  fully  what  has  only  to  be 

known  and  what  must  be  made  fixed  habit 

and  govern  his  work  accordingly. 

Now  a  few  hints  as  to  the  instruction  work. 
Hints  a»  Never  do  this  work  in  a  perfunctory  manner. 
to  m-  Always  have  in  mind  what  you  want  to  teach 

struction 

work         and  now  y°u  are  g°lng  to  do  it.     Put  your 
heart  in  your  work. 

I  have  seen  a  well  drilled  company  go  to 
pieces  under  an  officer  who  gave  his  com- 


KNOWLEDGE  AND  HABIT  17 

mands  in   an  indifferent  manner  and  who 
gave  too  much  "place  rest."     The  spirit  of  Hints  as 
indifference  is  contagious  as  well  as  the  spirit 
of  enthusiasm.     If  you  have  no  keen  interest  work 
simulate  it  and  you  will  find  it  grow  into 
the  real  thing.     Remember  that  you  are  paid 
for  good  work  and  if  you  do  not  give  this  kind 
of  service  you  are  obtaining  money  fraudu- 
lently. 

But  not  only  have  you  yourself  to  keep  in- 
terested; if  the  best  results  are  to  be  ob- 
tained you  must  keep  up  the  interest  of  your 
men.  Nothing  kills  interest  like  monotony. 
There  are  so  many  things  to  be  taught  and 
there  is  so  great  an  opportunity  for  variety 
that  there  is  no  excuse  for  not  keeping  the 
men  interestedly  busy  for  four  hours  a  day. 

Make  clear  to  the  men  in  the  instruction 
work,  particularly  in  the  field  training,  not 
only  the  object  sought  but  the  why  and 
wherefore.  In  maneuvers  always  explain 
the  problem  to  them  so  far  as  is  necessary  to 
make  them  understand  what  the  command  is 
trying  to  do,  where  the  enemy  is  supposed  to 
be,  and  the  rest.  They  will  respond  not  only 
by  taking  more  interest  but  by  doing  their 
part  much  better. 

I  have  seen  a  flank  patrol  out  at  a  man- 
euver the  leader  of  which  knew  nothing  of 


18  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

the  supposed  situation  and  had  been  given  no 
instructions,  except  to  act  as  left  flank  patrol. 
What  interest  could  he  be  expected  to  take  in 
the  maneuver?  How  could  he  be  counted 
on  properly  to  perform  his  duty? 

I  believe  in  carrying  out  this  principle 
Callis-  even  in  the  callisthenic  drill.     Explain  to  the 
drill"0  men  the  ob j  ect  of  each  movement,  what  muscle 
is  to   be   developed  by  it  and   its   advan- 
tage.    Doing   this   makes   this   work   much 
more  profitable  to  the  men  as  well  as  more 
interesting.     It  will  also  prevent  our  seeing 
these  movements  so  executed  as  to  deprive 
them  of  all  their  intended  value. 

In  other  words,  treat  the  men  being  in- 
Appeal     structed   as   the   intelligent   men   they   are. 

intoUi         TheV    Wl11    b°th    learn    faster    and    d°    better 

gence  of  work  when  they  fully  understand  what  is  to 
the  men  be  done  and  the  reason  why.  A  horse  must 
be  simply  made  to  do  certain  things  in  a 
given  way;  it  is  a  tedious  process  and  a  horse 
never  does  know  much.  Men  trained  as 
soldiers  on  the  same  plan  as  the  horse  give  re- 
sults out  of  all  proportion  to  the  time  and 
effort  spent.  Why  not,  therefore,  make  use 
of  the  man's  intelligence  and  simply  help  him 
train  himself? 


II 

GENERAL  DISTRIBUTION  OF  TIME 

IN  this  country  we  cannot  follow  literally 
any  of  the  systems  of  training  adopted  by 
the  great  military  powers:  our  whole  mili- 
tary system  is  too  different.  We  can,  how- 
ever, profit  by  their  experience  and,  if  we 
translate,  not  the  literal  text  of  their  regula- 
tions but  the  spirit,  gain  much.  It  is  essential 
that  any  scheme  of  instruction  adopted  should 
be  suited  to  our  organization,  method  of 
recruitment  and  the  various  conditions 
surrounding  our  service. 

The  work  must  be  so  planned  as  to  utilize 
all  the  available  time  of  the  year  and  in  that  R«qu»- 
time  to  cover  all  the  absolute  essentials  of  81tes  of  af 

system  of 

instruction.  In  this  utilization  of  the  time  training 
schools  for  non-commissioned  officers  and 
officers  must  be  included.  There  is  much 
ground  to  be  covered  during  the  year  and 
unless  the  time  be  wisely  apportioned  it 
cannot  be  done. 

There  is  much  of  the  work  that  can  be 
done  indoors;  other  work  can  only  be  done 
19 


20  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

outside.  Our  troops  are  so  widely  scattered 
and  under  such  varying  climatic  conditions 
that  the  distribution  of  time  cannot  profit- 
ably be  the  same  for  all. 

Each  post  should  make  its  own  schedule. 
Winter     The  work  in  each  post  must,  however,  be  uni- 
form.    For  example,  in  the  northern  part  of 

summer 

work  the  United  States  the  year's  training  should 
begin  November  1st  and  end  October  31st. 
All  the  instruction  that  can  be  given  during 
the  winter  months,  should  be  given,  leaving 
the  rest  for  the  open  season.  The  schools  for 
both  officers  and  non-commissioned  officers 
are  held  during  the  indoor  season;  the  work 
done  in  them  should  dovetail  in  with  the 
general  scheme  of  instruction.  Particular 
care  should  be  exercised  with  respect  to  the 

Schools  non-commissioned  officers'  schools;  in  them 
the  non-commissioned  officers  should  be 
taught  thoroughly  how  to  play  their  part  in 
the  varied  work  in  the  field  and  be  given  the 
reasons  for  things. 

Simply  repeating  the  words  of  a  book 
should  be  avoided;  teach  them  to  do  things. 
The  company  commander  who  is  capable 
and  in  earnest  can  do  much  in  winter  toward 
training  his  company  even  in  garrisons  where 
weather  conditions  are  the  worst. 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  TIME  21 

Most  of  the  captains  of   one    regiment 
known  to  me  have  been  doing  good  work  Methods 
during  the  past  two  years  in  teaching  the  f 
principles    of    the    conduct    of   patrols    and  tion 
covering  detachments.     Some  of  them  made 
use  of  the  Stacey  Relief  Map;  others  simply 
built  a  sand  table  about  ten  feet  by  five. 
On  this  the  sand  was  moulded  to  form  hills 
and  valleys.     Blue  strings  were  laid  down  for 
streams,  yellow  ones  for  roads.     Minature 
bridges  were  constructed  and  placed  where 
desired.     Small   twigs   were   used   to   make 
forests. 

By  means  of  practical  examples  worked 
out  on  these  made  or  improvised  maps  the 
principles  were  thoroughly  taught  and  more 
easily  than  is  possible  out  of  doors;  when 
spring  came,  only  a  few  exercises  on  the 
ground  were  necessary  to  make  these  com- 
panies proficient. 

Another  use  made  of  the  sand  table  was 
in  the  teaching  of  entrenching.     Bull  Dur-  Entrench- 
ham  tobacco  sacks  were  converted  into  sand  ing 
bags  and  the  men  taught  their  use  in  revetting, 
loop-holing,  etc.     Similarly  on   a  minature 
scale  were  taught  the  preparation  of   head- 
logs,   the   making   of   gabions,   facines   and 
hurdle  revetment.     Brush  work  thus  taught 


22  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

indoors  needs  only  be  followed  by  one  out- 
door exercise,  in  which  work  is  done  on  the 
scale  actually  used  in  the  field,  in  order  to 
render  the  company  proficient. 

Where  the  post  is  so  fortunate  as  to  be 
Gymna-  provided  with  a  gymnasium  full  advantage 
should  be  taken  during  the  winter  season  of 
the  opportunities  for  physical  training  which 
it  affords.  The  physical  development  of  the 
men  is  most  important.  Where  no  gym- 
nasium is  available  a  well-planned  course  in 
callisthenics  is  the  best  substitute  and  should 
be  used.  Callisthenics  to  music  or  for  pure 
show  should  be  prohibited. 

The  indoor  season  must  be  fully  utilized 

First  aid     to  save  the  full  time  of  the  outdoor  season 

ing  for  that  training  which  can  only  be  given 

then.     Instruction  in  such  subjects  as  first 

aid  and  signalling  naturally  is  given  at  this 

time.     A    place    for    gallery    practice    can 

always  be  rigged  up. 

The  foundation  for  estimating  distances 
Estimat-  must  be  laid,  and  there  should  be  practice  in 
^  every  week,  during  the  closed  season.  In 
this  work  the  whole  company  should  be  em- 
ployed together  only  for  the  first  one  or  two 
exercises  when  the  principles  are  being  ex- 
plained; after  that  a  platoon  or  less  at  a 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  TIME  23 

time.     Near  each  barracks  there  should  be 

two  stakes  one  hundred  yards  apart  and  so  Estimat- 

placed  that  the  men  see  them  every  time  the 

company  forms.     This  is  their  unit  of  measure 

and  cannot  become  too  familiar  to  them. 

The  captain  or  someone  designated  by 
him  selects  a  couple  of  distances  to  be  esti- 
mated. Each  subdivision  of  the  company 
then  goes  out  in  turn  and  upon  completing 
the  exercise  returns  and  another  goes  out. 

The  men  must  be  taught  to  estimate  dis- 
tances both  from  themselves  to  a  given  point 
and  between  two  points,  both  at  some  dis- 
tance from  them.  The  latter  is  necessary  in 
their  patrol  work  in  estimating  lengths  of 
column  and  frontages  occupied.  If  the  esti- 
mating be  conducted  in  this  way  the  weather 
will  make  little  difference;  the  men  dress  suit- 
ably for  it  and  are  out  only  a  short  time. 
The  work  to  be  of  value  must  be  done  under 
varying  conditions  of  light. 

There  should  be  no  week  in  the  year  in 
which  this  exercise  is  not  conducted.  In 
summer  it  should  be  done  on  the  days  when 
the  company  is  away  from  the  garrison  on  the 
weekly  practice  march;  there  is  ample  time 
for  it  during  the  long  halt. 

This  work  can  be  conducted  so  as  only  to 


24  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

take  about  fifteen  minutes  of  each  man's 
Estimat-  time  per  week.  It  is  well  worth  it.  I  have 
seen  the  above  plan  carried  out  intelligently 
in  two  or  three  companies  and  the  results 
were  remarkably  good;  the  ability  of  the 
men  to  estimate  distance  was  better  than 
that  given  for  musketry  school  graduates  in 
foreign  services.  On  the  other  hand  I  have 
seen  it  indifferently  carried  out  and,  like 
most  indifferent  work,  it  was  a  waste  of  time. 

Position    and    aiming  drills  and  gallery 

Position  practice  must  be  a  weekly  occurrence  and 

holding  them  twice  a  week  will  be  better. 

aiming 

drills,  If  the  detachments  are  made  small  enough 
gallery  gallery  practice  requires  but  little  time  for 
B  each  man.  It  is  important  in  conducting 
this  practice  to  see  that  no  man  ever  fires  a 
score  in  a  careless  or  indifferent  manner;  if 
this  is  permitted  the  result  obtained  will  be 
the  opposite  of  that  desired.  I  found  one 
very  effective  means  of  preventing  such  care- 
less work:  a  man  found  guilty  of  careless 
firing  was  required  to  repeat  his  score — but 
not  at  that  time  when  it  would  delay  the 
regular  course.  He  had  to  remain  near  the 
gallery  until  I,  or  someone  designated  by  me, 
came  around  to  supervise  his  firing  and  it  was 
usually  some  little  time  before  I  got  around. 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  TIME  25 

Throughout  the  year  careful  attention 
should  be  given  to  bayonet  fencing.  I  do  not  Bayonet 
believe  that  there  is  much  probability  of  a  fencmg 
bayonet  contest  in  war  but,  for  psychological 
reasons,  this  training  is  necessary.  Positions 
are  carried  by  the  bayonet,  but  past  ex- 
perience shows  that  in  such  charges  the  bayo- 
nets seldom  crossed  and  when  they  did  it  was 
a  "rough  and  tumble/'  Our  men  may  go  in 
with  the  best  intentions  in  the  world  to  use 
the  bayonet  according  to  rule,  yet  the  chances 
are  that,  in  the  excitement  of  the  melee,  habit 
will  assert  itself  and  the  gun  become  a  bat. 

Nevertheless,  troops  are  very  seldom 
"shot  out  of  a  position";  the  imminent 
threat  of  the  bayonet  is  necessary;  but,  as 
the  opposing  bayonets  get  close,  one  side  or 
the  other  weakens. 

It  would  be  folly  to  expect  men  without 
bayonets  to  charge  an  enemy  with  long  and  Kind  °f 
sharp  ones,  or  to  expect  them  without  bayo- 
nets  to  stand  a  charge  by  an  enemy  armed 
with  such  weapons,  even  though,  if  they  had 
bayonets,  they  would  be  likely  to  club  their 
rifles.  The  moral  effect  of  a  line  of  bayo- 
nets is  great. 

Infantry  should  be  armed  with  the  best  of 
bayonets,  long  and,  in  war  time,  razor 
sharp.  The  men  must  have  confidence  in 


26  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

their  ability  to  use  them  with  skill  and  effect; 
otherwise  they  will  neither  charge  nor  stand 
the  enemy's  charge.  At  that  stage  of  the 
fight  success  largely  depends  on  the  confi- 
dence of  the  individual  man  in  his  power  to 
win. 

Bayonet   fencing   should    be   continuous 
Amount  throughout  the  year.     At  least  one-half-hour 
ba  onet    weekly  should  be  devoted  to  it  and  during 
practice    the  indoor  season  extended  and  careful  in- 
struction  should    be   given    to    groups   not 
larger  than  a  squad.     During   the   outdoor 
season  this  instruction  should  be  so  arranged 
as  not  to  interfere  with  the  regular  drills. 

The    company   should    be    divided    into 
sections  that  can  be  handled  conveniently 
for  the  instruction  work.     The  success  of  the 
indoor  work  largely  depends  on  keeping  the 
struction  sections  small  enough. 

This  is  especially  necessary  in  first  aid 
and  sandtable  work.  If  the  sections  are  too 
large  at  estimating  distance  and  gallery 
practice  it  results  in  too  much  idle  standing 
around. 

The  sections  must  be  changed  from  one 
class  of  work  to  another  before  the  work  drags 
or  the  men  become  tired  of  it.  Give  them 
variety. 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  TIME  27 

The  captain  must  exercise  care  in  select- 
ing the  instructors  for  the  various  subjects.  Selecting 
The  man  who  will  do  it  the  best  should  be  'n8truc' 

tors 

the  instructor  in  each.  Perfunctory  or  in- 
different work  should  never  be  allowed  on  the 
part  of  an  instructor  or  by  the  man  being 
instructed. 

The  capable,  intelligent  and  honest  cap- 
tain will  utilize  the  indoor  season  to  the  great  Tne 
benefit  of  his  company  and  of  his  govern-  captain 
ment.     He  will  discover  the  best  ways  and 
means  of  instructing  his  own  particular  men. 
The  incompetent  captain,  lacking  average  in- 
telligence, will  accomplish  nothing  under  any 
circumstances. 

As  much  latitude  as  practicable  should  be 
given  to  subordinate  commanders  in  carry-  Initiative 
ing  out  any  system  of  instruction  and  they  !n     e 
should  be  held  strictly  responsible  for  results.  tion  work 
A  scheme  in  which  there  is  laid  down  just 
how  each  thing  is  to  be  taught,  and  how  much 
time  and  what  time  is  to  be  devoted  to  it,  is 
radically  wrong.     We  need  to  develop  our 
officers  as  well  as  our  men.     The  conditions 
are  different  at  different  posts.     The  needs 
of    different  companies  at  the  same  posts 
are  varied.     Each  captain  should  know  just 
how  much  time  he  has  and  what  is  absolutely 


28  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

required  of  him  in  that  time.     He  should 
Initiative    then  be  allowed  to  work  out  his  own  solution 

of  the  problem. 

tion  work  When  every  detail  is  prescribed  the  officer 
has  no  initiative,  his  interest  is  diminished, 
he  thinks  less,  exercises  less  responsibility, 
and  his  work  is  not  so  good.  If  that  policy 
be  kept  up  long  enough  the  subordinate  officer 
will  never  do  anything  without  positive  in- 
structions. An  officer  who  exercises  no 
judgment  is  of  no  value  in  war. 

But  absolute  liberty  for  the  subordinate 
The  to  do  as  he  pleases  is  impracticable.     The 

regiment  regjment  js  a  team  of  which  his  unit  is  only 

a  team 

one  member.  There  must  be  team  play  and 
every  member  must  know  and  be  able  to  do  his 
part.  The  company  must  be  taught  certain 
things  or  it  will  not  fit  into  the  battalion 
team;  the  battalion  must  be  fitted  for  the 
regimental  team.  Each  larger  unit  must 
have  time  for  training  and  has  a  right  to 
demand  that  each  lower  unit  which  forms  a 
part  of  it  shall  have  accomplished  its  own 
special  work  on  time  and  be  ready  to  play  its 
part  in  the  work  of  the  larger  unit. 

The  colonel  is  responsible  for  the  train- 
The  ing  Of  his  regiment.  He  should  allot  the 
co  one  ^  supervise  the  work  and  see  that  every 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  TIME  29 

member  of  the  team  is  ready.  He  is  the  best 
judge  of  the  requirements  of  his  regiment. 
But  the  colonel  should  do  this  so  as  to  leave 
all  the  liberty  practicable  to  subordinate 
commanders. 

If  all  our  captains  were  competent  and 
reliable  this  work  of  the  colonel  would  be  Orders 
very  simple.     But  there  are  a  few  captains.  an?  r.e" 

'    strictions 

unfortunately,  who  are  far  from  the  best, 
whose  long  suit  at  drill  is  "place  rest"  and 
having  a  sergeant  drill  the  company  in  Butts' 
Manual.  While  more  restrictions  are  neces- 
sary for  such  captains  these  restrictions  do 
not  hamper  the  others;  they  merely  pro- 
hibit things  the  right  kind  of  captain  would 
never  think  of  doing  or  require  what  he  would 
never  think  of  omitting. 

Of  course  most  of  the  instruction  time  be- 
longs to  the  companies;  it  is  in  them  that  most  Time  to 
of  the  work  must  be  done.     Four  well  trained  * 

zations 

companies  under  a  competent  major  can  be 
made  into  a  well  trained  battalion  in  a  very 
few  days,  and  the  time  required  for  each 
higher  unit  is  less  than  that  for  the  one  next 
below. 

To  the  company  belongs  all  the  indoor 
season.  In  dividing  the  rest  of  the  year  for 
the  northern  part  of  the  U.  S.  I  believe  that 


30  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

the  available  time  from  April  1st  to  October 
1st  should  be  allotted  in  the  proportion  of  4 
days  to  the  company  for  each  2  to  the  bat- 
talion and  1  to  the  regiment.  The  month  of 
October  should  be  devoted  to  maneuvers  and 
Time  to  to  work  in  higher  units.  The  time  spent  on 
*  ractice  ^e  target  range  is  excluded  in  computing  the 
available  time  but  no  company  should  be 
allowed  to  devote  more  than  two  weeks  to 
target  practice  exclusive  of  field  firing;  of  the 
latter  we  can  hardly  get  too  much.  It  is 
appreciated  that  conditions  at  various  posts 
make  different  schedules  necessary. 

In  the  past  we  have  seen  the  training  done 
in  a  back-handed  way:  work  in  the  higher 
units  first,  finally  down  to  the  company  and 
soldier.  This  is  so  unlikely  to  occur  in  future 
that  its  evil  results  are  not  worth  mentioning. 

Too  much  time  should  not  be  devoted  to 

Time  to  close  order  drill,  especially  during  the  out- 

ordTr       (*oor  season*     An  hour  a  day  for  the  first  five 

drill         or  six  drills  and  thereafter  fifteen  minutes  a 

day    is    ample.     There    should    always    be, 

however,  at  least  ten  minutes  a  day  of  snappy, 

precise  close  order  work;  this  together  with 

the  ceremonies  will  keep  the  companies  up 

to  the  standard.     Too  much  close  order  drill 

becomes  monotonous;  when  that  happens  the 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  TIME  31 

command  fails  to  improve  even  if  it  does  not 
deteriorate. 

The  drills  during  the  indoor  season  should 
be  two  hours  long;  for  the  rest  of  the  year  Length  of 
not  less  than  three  and  generally  from  four  to  c 
six  hours  daily. 


Ill 


Fire 

effective- 
ness in 
battle 


FIRE  SUPERIORITY 

WE  are  told  that  in  battle  we  must  have 
fire  superiority  to  win;  and  fire  con- 
trol and  direction  are  held  as  important.  I 
doubt  if  these  terms  are  fully  understood  by 
all.  A  hope  to  aid  some  of  our  younger 
officers  to  a  better  understanding  of  these 
terms,  and  of  the  vital  importance  of  fire 
distribution,  is  the  excuse  for  this  chapter. 

A  line  of  men  firing  with  the  rifle,  if  not 
disturbed  or  endangered  by  the  fire  of  an 
enemy,  can  do  approximately  target  practice 
work.  Now  let  a  heavy  fire  be  opened  on 
them,  one  that  is  fairly  accurate  and  well 
placed,  and  their  work  falls  off  very  greatly; 
the  heavier  the  fire  they  are  subjected  to 
the  less  effective  becomes  their  own  fire. 

Careful  study  and  research  by  competent 
men  of  foreign  armies  leads  to  the  conclusion 
that  if  this  line,  when  not  under  fire,  could 
make  280  hits  in  a  given  time,  subjected  to  a 
heavy,  well  placed  fire  its  effectiveness  would 
fall  to  1/40  or  1X70;  that  is,  from  280  hits 

to  7  or  4. 

32 


FIRE  SUPERIORITY  33 

This  looks  extreme  at  first  thought;  but 
what  captain  with  a  good  company  but  would  Fire 
know  that  he  could  deploy  his  company  at  *^* 
from  800  to  1000  yards  from  a  line  of  lying  battle 
down  figures  and  get  a  hit  for  at  least  every 
10  shots.     Yet  history  tells  us  that  it  takes 
from  1200  to  2000  shots  in  battle  to  put  a  man 
out  of  action.     In  the  light  of  these  facts  our 
first  figures  look  very  moderate. 

With  our  present  infantry  arm  an  advance 
against  a  hostile  line  doing  280  work  is  im- 
possible. Bring  the  enemy's  effectiveness 
down  to  the  four  and  keep  it  there  and  you 
can  advance  and  win. 

Fire  superiority  does  not  mean  that  you 
are  firing  more  shots  than  the  enemy,  it  does 
not  mean  he  is  firing  less  than  you;  it  means 
that  your  fire  has  become  so  close  and  effective 
that  he  has  lost  his  nerve  and  is  shooting 
wildly. 

To   obtain   this   fire   superiority   certain 
things  are  necessary.     We  must  have  proper  Fire  dis- 
fire  distribution.     To  explain  this  let  us  as-  tribution 
sume  that  a  hostile  line  is  200  yards  long, 
that  our  force  is  the  stronger.     We  concen- 
trate our  fire  on  the  right  half  of  the  hostile 
line,  leaving  the  other  half  untouched.     The 
effectiveness  of  the  fire  of  half  of  this  line  re- 


34  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

mains  at  280,  the  other  half  falls  to  2,  average 
Fire  dis-  141-  our  advance  is  impossible.  We  now 
cover  the  entire  target  and  its  fire  effec- 
tiveness falls  to  7;  our  advance  is  possible. 

Fire  superiority  is  possible,  then,  only  if 
we  have  fire  distribution.  It  is  not  sufficient 
to  fire  a  certain  number  of  shots  at  part  of  the 
line,  the  whole  hostile  line  must  be  subjected 
to  a  nerve  racking  fire  to  reduce  the  effective- 
ness of  its  fire. 

Another  thing  to  be  considered  is  that 
the  enemy  will  conceal  himself  as  much  as 
possible.  On  a  large  part  of  the  hostile 
line  no  one  will  be  seen;  men  will  be  hidden 
by  tufts  of  grass,  bushes,  etc.  But  while 
this  cover  conceals  the  enemy  from  our  view, 
he  sees  our  location  and  his  fire  is  not  in- 
terrupted. There  is  a  strong  tendency  to 
shoot  only  at  the  men  that  can  be  seen.  This 
must  be  overcome;  much  of  our  firing  must 
be  aimed  at  a  locality,  although  unseen 
the  enemy  is  nevertheless  there  and  his  fire 
effectiveness  must  be  kept  down.  Our  fire 
must  be  distributed  to  cover  every  part  of 
the  hostile  line  whether  the  enemy  is  seen  or 
not. 

To  secure  this  fire  distribution  we  must 
be  able  to  direct  the  fire  of  our  men,  to  place 


FIRE  SUPERIORITY  35 

it  where  wanted.     But  direction  necessarily 
implies  control;  you  can  not  direct  what  you  Fire 
cannot  control.     Thus  a  fire  control  system 
which  will  work  on  the  battlefield  is  a  primary 
requisite  to  success. 

Another  term  used  is  fire  discipline.  The 
word  fire  adds  nothing  to  its  meaning;  but  Fire 
discipline  is  vital  to  success.  No  matter 
what  your  system  of  control,  if  the  men  do 
not  respond  with  prompt  obedience  it  is 
worthless.  Disciplined  men  can  be  counted 
on  to  do  what  is  wanted  if  they  know  how, 
others  cannot.  There  is  no  fire  discipline 
distinct  from  other  military  discipline. 

To  sum  up:  fire  superiority  is  necessary 
to  success,  to  attain  fire  superiority  we  must 
properly  distribute  our  fire,  to  do  this  we 
must  be  able  to  control  and  hence  direct  it, 
and  this  can  only  be  done  if  our  men  are 
disciplined.  An  attack  with  raw  troops  is 
possible  only  against  still  poorer  ones. 

Our  fire  control  and  direction  needs  more 
explanation.     A  method  must  be  had  which  Method 
will  work  on  the  battlefield.     No  one  who  has  '    fire 
seen  a  modern  battle  will  think  for  a  moment 
that  it  is  practicable  to  control  and  direct  a 
firing   line   by   verbal   orders.     A   battalion 
commander  must  be  far  enough  to  the  rear 


36  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

to  observe  his  entire  line.  In  the  noise  of  a 
real  battle  his  voice  could  not  be  heard  ten 
yards  by  men  on  the  firing  line.  The  same 
is  equally  true  of  company  and  platoon 
commanders.  These  officers  cannot  be  run- 
ning up  and  down  the  line  giving  instructions; 
if  they  tried  it  they  would  not  last  long. 

Our  method  must  therefore  be  one  that 
Use  of  can  be  executed  independently  of  the  voice 
and  with  as  little  exposure  of  the  officers  as 
practicable.  The  method  by  signals  given 
in  our  I.  D.  R.  answers  the  requirements. 
The  text  of  it  can  be  learned  in  a  few  minutes, 
but  to  train  a  battalion  so  that  it  will  fully 
respond  under  danger  requires  hours  of  prac- 
tice: it  is  one  thing  that  must  become  a 
habit. 

After  the  mechanism  of  the  drill  is  learned 
officers  should  conduct  their  line  as  in  battle 
by  signals  only.  Do  not  teach  men  to  expect 
you  to  be  running  up  and  down  the  line 
personally  correcting  errors  and  giving  direc- 
tions, leading  them  to  expect  this  to  be  done 
in  battle.  The  effect  of  a  decided  change  in 
conduct  when  danger  is  present  is  apt  not  to 
be  good.  Moreover,  the  command  will  not 
respond  to  signals  alone  on  the  battlefield 
if,  in  instruction  work,  they  have  never  been 


FIRE  SUPERIORITY  37 

taught  to  depend  on  them  exclusively.     We 
should  do  everything  at  battle  exercises  just   Use  of 
as  nearly  as  possible  as  it  will  be  done  in    81gm 
battle. 

I  have  seen  at  battle  exercises  men  stand 
up  in  the  open  and  wave  their  flags  to  give 
the  signals.  This  is  absurd.  In  battle  it 
would  be  needlessly  dangerous,  would  give 
the  enemy  too  much  information,  and  it  is 
unnecessary.  The  necessary  signals  in  the 
battalion  can  be  given  by  a  man  lying  on  the 
ground  with  a  handkerchief,  or  flag  without 
the  staff,  and  be  seen  for  the  short  distances 
separating  the  major  from  his  captains  or 
the  captain  from  his  platoon  commanders. 
Practice  alone  is  required  to  enable  this  to  be 
done  efficiently.  It  must  be  so  done  in  battle 
and  must  therefore  be  drilled  that  way. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  the  new 
semaphore  code  recently  adopted  does  not 
apply  to  these  signals.  The  new  code  re- 
quires men  to  stand;  the  old  must  be  used 
for  these  battle  signals. 

Additional  signals  to  those  given  in  the 
I.  D.  R.  may  be  taught  and  used  in  companies.  Addi- 
It  is  doubtful  if  they  are  necessary  and  if  not  t|ona| 

signals 

necessary  they  are  wrong.     The  more  signals 
you   have,    the    more    chance    of    mistakes. 


38  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

Addi-     Signals  for  forming  squad  or  platoon  columns 
are  unnecessary.     These  movements  are  not 

signals 

executed  close  to  the  enemy  nor  when  your 
line  is  firing,  hence  verbal  commands  are  prac- 
ticable and  when  practicable  are  desirable, 
are  surer  and  easier. 

Signals  are  necessary  when  your  line  has 
commenced  the  fire  fight  but  from  there  on  few 
commands  are  necessary;  there  are  so  few 
things  that  can  be  ordered,  the  time  for 
maneuver  and  instruction  is  past.  One  or 
two  of  those  given  might  be  dispensed  with 
and  one  for  fixing  bayonets  should  be  added; 
possibly  there  are  one  or  two  others  that 
should  be  added. 

We  have   discussed   how  to   obtain   fire 

Observing  superiority;  how  may  we  know  when  we  have 

e  effec-  . .    ^  ^e  volume  of  the  enemy's  fire  remains 

tiveness 

practically  the  same?  Company  and  pla- 
toon commanders  must  watch  for  the  effect 
of  the  enemy's  fire,  where  his  bullets  are 
striking.  If  the  hostile  bullets  are  going 
wild,  some  striking  far  short,  others  way 
high,  and  very  few  are  effective,  you  have 
fire  superiority;  that  is  the  time  to  gain 
distance  to  the  front.  On  the  other  hand, 
although  you  may  be  suffering  no  loss,  you 
see  that  the  enemy's  bullets,  well  massed, 


FIRE  SUPERIORITY  39 

are  striking,  say  50  yards  in  your  front;  you 

have  no  fire  superiority ;  the  enemy  has  simply  Observing 

underestimated  the  range  and  your  advance  f.re  effec" 

tiveness 

will  bring  you  into  the  center  of  his  beaten 
zone.  But  this  is  your  opportunity  to  gain 
fire  superiority.  Your  men  are  suffering 
little  or  no  loss,  should  be  less  affected  and 
should  do  better  work.  If  this  opportunity 
is  well  utilized  you  will  gain  fire  superiority. 
When  you  have  fire  superiority  you  must 
push  the  advance,  take  full  advantage  of  your 
opportunity;  if  you  temporarily  lose  it, 
suspend  the  advance  until  you  regain  the 
necessary  superiority. 

Fire  properly  distributed  is  one  essential 
to   gaining  fire   superiority.     Proper   distri-  Distribu- 
bution  means  it  is  placed  on  the  target  and  on  *10] 
all  of  the  target,  not  just  one  part.     Placing 
our  fire  on  the  target  requires  that  our  men  be 
at  least  fair  shots,  have  their  nerve  and  know 
the  range.     To  cover  all  the  target  rather 
than  concentrate  on  a  part  is  not  easy  and  to 
attain   practical   efficiency   in   this   requires 
skill  and  practice. 

In  the  deployment  for  battle  the  division 
is  generally  given  a  specific  mission,  the 
division  commander  assigns  to  each  brigade 
its  part  of  the  task,  and  so  on  down  to  the 


40 


TRAINING  INFANTRY 


battalion,  company,  platoon  and  even  squad. 

There  is  little  involved  in  the  larger 
units  except  the  tactical  skill  to  know  how  to 
use  the  larger  units  to  gain  the  required  end; 
dividing  the  terrain  is  easy.  It  is  difficult 
with  the  commanders  of  the  smaller  units; 
the  division  of  the  target  generally  becomes 
harder  the  smaller  the  subdivision.  The 
major  must  divide  his  target,  say  between 
two  companies,  and  do  it  so  that  there  can 
be  no  mistake  on  the  part  of  the  captains 
as  to  just  what  part  each  is  to  cover.  The 
company  commander  must  then  divide  his 
section  among  his  platoons  and  the  latter 
often  among  the  squads. 

The  battalion  commander  has  only  one 
difficulty — to  find  a  way  to  make  each  captain 
clearly  understand  where  is  the  division  of 
target  and  where  its  extreme  limit.  The 
company  commander  has  a  shorter  line  to 
divide  and  has  to  divide  it  into  more  parts. 
Landmarks  are  not  so  common  as  he  will  then 
desire. 

The  captain  has  another  problem  in  this 
connection:  shall  he  divide  his  target  into 
four  parts  and  assign  each  platoon  a  separate 
part,  or  into  two  parts  and  give  two  platoons 
the  same  target,  i.  e.,  1st  and  3d  the  right 


FIRE  SUPERIORITY  41 

half,  2d  and  4th  the  left  half?  The  captain 
has  not  only  the  problem  of  finding  proper  The 
dividing  points  in  the  target,  but  he  must 
divide  and  allot  the  target  so  as  to  get  the  best 
fire  effect.  It  might  happen,  as  I  once  saw 
in  a  field  firing  problem,  that  the  right  pla- 
toon could  not  see  the  corresponding  part  of 
the  target,  hence  was  given  the  other  extreme 
flank  and  the  rest  of  the  target  divided  ac- 
cordingly. It  is  not  the  division  alone,  but 
what  is  the  best  division  and  allotment,  that 
must  be  considered. 

This  will  all  be  more  clearly  understood  if 
you  will  go  in  the  country  and  assume  a  regi-  Practice 
ment  is  ordered  to  attack  a  certain  line  under  !n.,  18T 

tributing 

certain  conditions,  and  then  give  the  col-  the 
onel's  attack  order,  from  that  take  each  target 
major's  target  and  divided  it  between  the 
companies  and  then  divide  each  company 
target.  This  should,  of  course,  always  be 
done  at  the  same  distance  from  the  target 
that  you  would  have  to  make  the  distribution 
if  a  real  enemy  were  there.  You  should  have 
two  or  three  men  with  you  to  act  as  the 
subordinates  in  each  case  and  to  determine 
whether  the  division  is  fully  and  perfectly 
understood.  It  is  easy  on  a  map,  but  often 
very  difficult  on  the  ground ;  distinctive  marks 
are  sometimes  very  scarce. 


42 


TRAINING  INFANTRY 


Each  commander  should  practice  this, 
devising  a  method  for  himself  that  will  work. 
Officers  alone  or  together  in  small  groups 
should  practice  it  as  a  sort  of  tactical  walk. 
But  primarily  it  should  be  done  in  each  unit: 
the  colonel  should  take  the  majors  on  such  a 
tactical  walk;  the  majors  their  captains;  the 
captains  their  platoon  commanders.  Esti- 
mating distance  should  be  worked  in  the 
same  exercise. 

For  the  companies  this  is  good  work  for 
the  indoor  season.  There  are  days  when  work 
can  be  planned  for  the  company  that  does 
not  require  the  presence  of  the  captain  or  of 
most  of  his  officers  and  non-commissioned 
officers;  these  can  then  utilize  the  drill  period 
as  above  described.  It  may  be  made  a  real 
tactical  walk  with  special  stress  laid  on  the 
division  and  allotment  of  the  target. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  most 
cases  the  artillery  will  play  a  large  part  in  the 
gaining  and  maintaining  of  fire  superiority. 
But  this  fact  does  not  alter  the  work  of  the 
infantry;  we  must  still  do  most  of  the  killing 
and  unnerving  of  the  enemy  and  this  is  true 
whether  the  enemy  consists  of  infantry  alone 
or  of  infantry  in  conjunction  with  artillery. 

In  this  chapter  the  first  part  is  much  like 


FIRE  SUPERIORITY  43 

"right  line  strategy"  mathematics  applied  to 
a  battlefield  where  little  is  subject  to  such 
treatment.  But  that  seemed  the  easiest  and 
simplest  way  to  make  clear  to  beginners  terms 
that  must  be  fully  understood.  It  is  hoped 
that  that  part  of  the  chapter  will  be  under- 
stood as  meant,  as  offering  merely  a  means  of 
illustration  and  not  as  implying  that  a  battle 
can  be  worked  out  with  mathematical  pre- 
cision. 


IV 


Object 
of  an 
army 


COMBAT 

WAR,  according  to  Clausewitz,  is  the  con- 
tinuation of  diplomacy.  Diplomacy 
is  not  always  able  to  settle  international  dis- 
putes, then  the  army  must  do  what  the 
diplomats  have  failed  to  accomplish.  In  our 
own  history  it  has  been  the  mass  of  the  people 
who  have  forced  our  wars,  and  who,  in  the 
case  of  a  strong  public  sentiment  arising,  will 
involve  us  again.  On  account  of  the  state 
of  preparedness  of  most  great  nations  and 
because  of  the  enormous  cost  of  modern  war, 
wars  are  shorter  than  formerly. 

If  this  country  becomes  involved  in  a  war 
with  a  military  power  it  will  be  impracticable 
to  learn  the  art  of  war  and  train  an  army 
after  the  outbreak;  the  war  will  not  last  long 
enough.  The  object  of  having  an  army 
is  for  war  not  for  peace,  and  the  battles 
alone  really  .decide  the  issue;  the  battles 
are  not  numerous  but  each  tends  one 
way  or  the  other  to  end  the  struggle.  Great 
armies  exist  for  many  years  between  wars 
and  are  then  trained  for  these  few  days  of 
44 


COMBAT  45 

battles  which  determine  the  fate  of  the 
nation.  The  whole  aim  of  an  army  should 
be  to  be  ready  for  war  and  the  success  or  fail- 
ure in  war  is  determined  by  a  few  days  of 
battle.  Untrained  troops  are  of  no  value  on 
the  modern  battlefield. 

Part  of  our  close  order  drill,  the  cere- 
monies and  some  other  things  we  teach,  are  Training 
accessories  and,  if  given  their  proper  place, 
are  of  value,  but  the  battlefield  is  the  crucial 
test;  by  our  fitness  for  that  must  our  train- 
ing be  judged.  The  work  of  generals  and  the 
general  staff  is  vitally  important  but  the  best 
plan  will  accomplish  nothing  if  there  are  no 
trained  companies  to  carry  out  their  part. 

In  this  chapter  is  considered  the  training 
necessary  for  combat.  This  is  the  work 
executed  under  the  severest  strain  and  under 
the  greatest  difficulties  of  leadership  and 
control.  This  training  must  be  thorough 
and  the  things  in  combat  which  have  to  be 
done  must  become  a  habit. 

THE  COMPANY 

The  first  essential  is  that  the  men  must 
know  the  mechanism  of  the  extended  order  Extended 
drill,  including  all  signals  used.     To  keep  con- 
trol  of  the  skirmish  line  in  battle,  that  is  to 


46 


TRAINING  INFANTRY 


Extended 

order 

practice 


Calmness 
in  giving 
orders 


maintain  such  order  therein  that  it  can  be 
directed  and  used  as  desired,  is  far  from  easy. 
Excitement  and  confusion,  especially  in  the 
last  stages  of  the  combat,  are  apt  to  occur. 
Everything  possible  must  be  done  to  preserve 
organization  and  control. 

Much  depends  upon  the  start;  if  there 
is  confusion  at  the  start  and  the  squads  get 
mixed,  success  is  more  than  doubtful.  In  the 
majority  of  cases  the  deployment  will  be 
made  quietly  at  long  range,  but  not  in  all. 
The  company  must  be  drilled  until  able 
to  deploy  from  all  formations,  facing  in  any 
direction,  in  the  least  time  practicable,  and 
without  any  confusion  or  mix-up. 

The  captain  who  can  give  all  his  orders 
and  commands  at  the  start  of  a  fight  in  a 
calm,  unexcited  manner  has  a  great  advan- 
tage over  the  one  whose  voice  or  manner  in- 
dicates excitement.  This  calm  manner 
should  be  cultivated  during  training.  As 
good  a  way  as  I  know  for  such  training  is  to 
have  a  few  men  to  represent  hostile  forces 
conceal  themselves  at  various  points  in  a 
moderately  close  country;  march  the  com- 
pany through  this  terrain  and,  as  the  re- 
presented enemy  appears,  form  skirmish  line 
facing  the  supposed  enemy,  give  the  range 


COMBAT  47 

and  the  commands  for  opening  fire  in  the 
least  possible  time.  The  captain  himself 
should  not  know  where  the  represented  enemy 
will  appear.  This  is  training  for  the  captain 
and  also  excellent  practice  for  the  company. 

Occasionally  during  an  advance  points  are 
reached  where  a  company  is  sheltered  from  Restoring 
fire.  Advantage  should  always  be  taken  of  or  e] 
such  opportunities  to  reestablish  perfect 
order,  replace  fallen  leaders  and  thus  get  a 
new  start.  Such  an  opportunity  decidedly  in- 
creases your  chance  of  success  in  battle;  real 
control  is  reestablished.  Practice  this  in 
your  battle  training  when  the  opportunity 
offers,  but  never  do  it  when,  in  a  real  combat, 
it  would  be  impracticable. 

After  the  mechanism  of  the  extended  order 
drill  is  understood  all  combat  exercises  should  Combat 
have  a  problem  or  situation.    These  should  exerci* 
always  be  simple;  elaborate  tactical  problems 
for  this  instruction   work  are  unnecessary. 
For  a  simulated  attack  as  part  of  a  line,  all 
that  is  necessary  is  a  statement  that  the 
enemy,  a  regiment  of  infantry,  is  holding  the 

line  from  -        -  to ,  our  regiment  is  to 

attack  it  at  once,  our  battalion  on  the  right, 
we  are  the  right  company,  our  target  or  ob- 
jective the  part  of  the  line  from  to 


48 


TRAINING  INFANTRY 


and 
orders 


— .  This  of  course  should  be  varied  but 
need  be  no  more  complicated.  The  captain 
should  give  this  to  his  whole  company,  let  all 
the  men  know  what  they  are  supposed  to  be 
doing. 

The  captain  should  then  give  his  attack 
Situation  order,  always  carefully  distributing  the  target. 
For  a  company  operating  alone  the  follow- 
ing form  will  answer  every  purpose:  This 
company  belongs  to  a  division  engaged  with 
a  hostile  division  five  miles  north  of  here. 
This  company  was  detached  to  capture  that 
building  (pointing)  which  is  assumed  to  be 
important.  The  defending  force  occupies  the 
line  -  — .  The  order  for  the  attack  then 
follows.  Usually  in  such  a  case,  a  small 
support  would  be  held  out.  Of  course  the 
problems  will  vary  according  to  what  it  is  de- 
sired to  teach.  Always  distribute  the  target 
and  let  the  men  understand  what  you  are 
trying  to  do.  All  combat  exercises  should  be 
conducted  as  nearly  as  possible  as  though  the 
enemy  were  real.  Allow  nothing  to  be  done 
that  would  not  be  attempted  were  it  real  war, 
otherwise  you  do  not  give  instruction  but 
misinformation.  After  the  mechanism  is 
taught,  the  captain  and  platoon  commanders 
must  conduct  themselves  in  combat  exercises 


Method 
of  con- 
ducting 
exercises 


COMBAT  49 

as  they  would  under  hostile  fire,  keep  close 

to  the  ground,  use  signals  only.     After  the  Method 

exercise  is  over  have  a  critique,  point  out  the  c 

ducting 

errors  made  and  tell  the  command  how  they  exercises 
should  be  corrected. 

You  must  expect  that  if  mistakes  are 
made  at  the  drill  they  will  be  made  in  battle; 
to  correct  these  mistakes  you  should  use  only 
those  means  at  drill  that  will  be  practicable 
in  battle.  The  captain  needs  much  practice  in 
thus  handling  a  skirmish  line  and  those  under 
him  need  more  practice  before  the  company 
can  be  well  handled  in  this  manner. 

The    effectiveness    of    the    enemy's    fire 
should  be  indicated  that  platoon  commanders  Means 
can    practice    the    control    of    rushes.     The  °   r®pre" 

senting 

simplest  way  to  do  this  that  I  have  found  is  to  enemy's 
have  a  man  at  the  hostile  position  with  two  fire 
little  flags.  Holding  both  of  these  vertically 
over  his  head  means  the  enemy's  fire  is  wild 
and  nearly  harmless.  One  flag  vertical  the 
other  horizontal  indicates  a  moderately 
effective  fire.  Both  flags  horizontal  indicates 
the  maximum  effectiveness — that  the  enemy 
has  a  decided  fire  superiority.  When  both 
flags  touch  the  ground  it  indicates  no  fire. 
The  advance  of  the  attacking  force  is  only 
practicable  by  taking  advantage  of  the  times 


50  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

when  the  fire  is  ineffective  or  weak  to  push 
Means  forward,  and,  when  the  hostile  fire  is  too 
of  repre-  gtrong^  shooting  to  gain  fire  superiority. 

senting 

enemy's    Platoon  commanders  and  men  must  become 
fire  accustomed  to  seizing  these  opportunities  to 

advance  and  suddenly  getting  down  when 
there  is  a  burst  of  effective  fire.  The  flags 
on  the  hostile  position  may  be  controlled  by 
an  instructor,  stationed  behind  the  company 
officers,  indicating  how  the  flags  are  to  be 
held. 

Remember  that  the  hostile  fire  becomes 
more  effective  in  proportion  as  ours  is  less 
effective.  If  we  have  the  most  men  we 
should  gain  fire  superiority  if  our  shots  are 
well  placed.  If  the  firing  line  has  not  dis- 
tributed its  fire  properly  the  instructor  causes 
both  flags  to  be  held  horizontally;  no  ad- 
vance is  then  possible  until  the  company 
officers  find  out  the  cause  of  the  trouble  and 
correct  it.  The  same  is  done  whenever  a 
serious  error  in  sight  elevation  is  made. 
Majors  should  frequently  conduct  such  ex- 
ercises with  their  companies.  The  company 
officers  must  become  quick  in  determining 
why  the  hostile  fire  is  more  effective  than  suits 
existing  conditions  and  learn  to  correct  the 
error. 


COMBAT  51 

You  may  not  be  able  to  reduce  the  effec- 
tiveness of  the  hostile  fire  so  that  an  advance  Judging 
under  it  is  practicable  and,  in  some  cases,  it  *Jefects  m 

taring 

may  not  be  your  mission  to  do  so;  but  in  every 
case  where  the  hostile  fire  passes  a  certain 
point  of  effectiveness,  depending  on  relative 
numbers,  your  range,  distribution  or  some- 
thing is  wrong,  or  else  your  men  have  lost 
their  nerve.  Judging  the  effect  of  the  hostile 
fire  is  something  in  which  company  and  pla- 
toon commanders  must  be  proficient,  but  off 
the  battlefield  this  can  only  be  taught  in 
theory. 

In  advancing  the  attack  by  rushes  the  size 
of  the  fraction  rushing  will  be  dependent  upon  Advance 
the   relative  proportion   of  rifles   necessary  }  iy 
to  hold  your  fire  superiority.     If  rushes  are 
practicable  at  all  it  will  seldom  be  necessary 
to  rush  by  smaller  units  than  the  platoon. 
But  an  advance  will  sometimes  have  to  be 
made  by  fractions  of  only  a  man  or  two  and 
sometimes  by  crawling.     All  these  should  be 
taught. 

When  the  enemy  is  active  the  rushes 
should  not  be  long,  if  of  only  25  or  30  yards 
the  time  the  men  are  actually  running  will 
be  very  short,  too  short  for  the  average 
man  to  pick  up  the  target,  raise  the  rifle  to  his 


52  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

shoulder  and  fire  with  careful  aim.  Too 
much  time  is  taken  by  the  average  man  in 
getting  up  and  down.  The  men  must  be 
practiced  in  springing  to  their  feet  and 
getting  down  again  in  the  shortest  time 
possible.  There  is  a  knack  in  this  not  diffi- 
cult to  acquire. 

Reinforcing  a  firing  line  will  generally 
Reinforce-  bring  about  intermingling  of  squads  and  pla- 
toons. To  avoid  this  by  closing  in  on  the 
center  by  companies,  thus  creating  gaps  for 
reinforcements,  is  impracticable  on  a  battle- 
field when  reinforcing  is  necessary.  In  battle 
in  the  great  majority  of  cases  reinforcements 
will  go  in  as  they  can  and  fall  into  the  existing 
gaps  where  found.  As  this  will  be  the  rule  in 
battle  we  should  so  drill  it. 

When  the  next  rush  is  made,  say  by  squads, 
where  do  these  reinforcements  go?  In  one 
regiment  at  least,  they  solved  it  satisfactorily. 
The  points  of  division  along  the  firing  line 
remain  where  they  were;  the  new  man  who 
joins  the  firing  line  always  goes  with  the 
man  on  his  right,  he  belongs  to  the  squad  and 
to  the  platoon  of  the  man  on  his  right.  This 
provision  should  be  added  in  the  I.  D.  R. 

In  teaching  the   mechanism  of    the    ex- 
tended order,  practice  should  be  had  in  this 


COMBAT  53 

by  dividing  the  company  into  firing  line  and 
support  and  then  feeding  in  the  support  and  Mixing 
continuing  the  advance  by  rushes.     If  you  °n. the_. 

firing  line 

expect  this  to  be  done  in  battle  it  must  become 
a  habit.  To  get  the  best  practice  in  this 
mixing,  as  well  as  to  train  officers  and  ser- 
geants to  think  quickly  and  to  act  properly, 
there  should  be  many  rencontre  engagements 
so  planned  as  to  bring  about  a  mixing  of  units 
on  the  firing  line. 

Some  practice  should   be  afforded   with 
companies  at  war  strength.     This  can  be  had 
by  combining  two  or  more  companies.     By  Practice 
this  means  it  is  sought  to  accustom  officers  a*  wariL 

strength 

to  the  fronts  and  depths  of  such  a  company 
and  also  to  the  greater  length  of  time  re- 
quired to  change  formation. 

In  combat  exercises  of  the  company  alone 
practice  must  be  had  in  shifting  part  of  the  Rediatri- 
fire  to  new  targets  and  redistributing  the  old.  b"ting 
In  large  battles  this  will  seldom  if  ever  be  re- 
quired by  men  in  the  firing  line,  but  it  will 
occur  in  detachment  work.     The  companies 
should  get  practice  in  this  and  it  can  be  well 
coupled  with  the  instruction  in  hasty  deploy- 
ments suggested  on  page  46. 

Some  work  should  be  done  on  the  de- 
fensive.    A  few  men  should  be  detailed  to 


54  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

represent  the  enemy;  if  the  man  carries  one 
Work  little  flag  he  represents  a  squad,  if  two  flags  a 
°n, the.  platoon.  These  men  should  be  in  charge  of  a 

defensive  . 

competent  man  who  as  nearly  as  is  practicable 
directs  their  advance  as  such  units  would 
really  advance  under  the  assumed  con- 
ditions. Enveloping  movements  and  sur- 
prise attacks  can  thus  be  well  simulated, 
giving  the  company  the  opportunity  to  prac- 
tice meeting  such  movements  by  the  use  of 
the  support,  redistribution  of  targets,  etc. 

The  instruction  against  an  outlined  enemy 
Company  having  been  practiced  until  the  companies 
against  ^rQ  ^^  instructed,  the  enemy  should  be  repre- 

company 

sented,  one  company  should  work  against 
another.  This  gives  an  opportunity  for  re- 
connaissance work  before  and  during  the 
attack  and  introduces  the  elements  of  un- 
certainty as  to  what  the  enemy  will  do. 

In  war,  night  operations  are  inevitable 

Night  op-  and  we  must  recognize  this  fact  and  prepare 

eration.      for  them<    Night  marches  by  large  commands, 

patrolling  by  both  large  and  small  groups, 

and  outpost  work,  including  the  establishing 

of  the  outpost  in  the  dark,  will  all  occur  as 

well  as  an  occasional  night  battle.     In  all 

this  work  the  principal  difficulty  seems  to  be 

to  avoid  confusion  and  mistakes. 


COMBAT  55 

The  men,  especially  those  who  are  city 
bred,  are  unable  to  orient  themselves  in  the  Orienta- 
dark.     The    darkness    when    coupled    with  * 
possible  unseen  foes  has  a  demoralizing  effect 
and  this  effect  will  be  the  greater  the  more 
helpless  the  man  feels  himself  to  be  in  the  dark 
and  the  less  confidence  he  has  in  the  ability 
of  the  company  to  act  as  a  company.     Much 
of  this  difficulty  can  be  overcome  by  a  little 
careful  training. 

The  men  should  be  taken  out  and  taught 
to  orient  themselves  by  the  stars  and  promi- 
nent features  that  can  be  distinguished  at 
night.  The  effects  of  different  backgrounds 
on  the  visibility  of  objects  should  be  demon- 
strated, and  especially  the  prominence  of  ob- 
jects on  a  skyline.  Estimating  distance  by 
sound  should  be  practiced.  The  men 
grouped  into  small  patrols  should  be  made  to 
find  their  way  from  place  to  place  and  then 
to  operate  against  other  patrols. 

The  company  should  be  drilled  at  night. 
Forming  line  from  column,  front  into  line,  on  Night 
right  or  left  into  line,  and  even  forming  line  of  dri11 
skirmishers,  should  be  practiced  and  an  oc- 
casional  night   march   made.     A   very   few 
drills  each  season,  held  at  night  instead  of  in 
daylight,  will  do  much  toward  giving  the  men 


56  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

that  necessary  confidence  in  the  ability  of 
Night   £ke  company  to  Work  together  in  the  dark. 

It  will  sometimes  happen  that  a  command 
will  have  to  go  into  camp  after  dark  and  es- 
tablish an  outpost.  This  should  be  practiced 
at  least  once  each  season  after  the- company 
has  been  well  instructed  in  the  work  by  day- 
light. 

Satisfactory  training  for  night  attacks  is 

Night      difficult.     The  first  principle  governing  night 

attacks  a^acks  js  not  £O  shoot  but  to  get  in  as  close 

as  possible  undiscovered  and  then  rush  with 

the  bayonet.     It  is  impracticable  to  practice 

this    with    a   represented    enemy;  it    is    too 

dangerous.     To  practice  it  by  allowing  the 

opposing  sides  to  fire  blanks  at  each  other  is 

all  wrong  because  it  is  teaching  the  men  to  do 

what  they  should  not  do  in  war. 

One  method  is  to  place  men  to  represent 
the  enemy  behind  a  suitable  fence,  then  to 
make  the  advance  and  attack,  causing  the 
represented  enemy  to  open  fire  as  soon  as  the 
attack  is  discovered.  An  open  wire  fence 
will  not  prevent  the  discovery  of  the  attack 
but  will  stop  the  bayonet  rush  before  anyone  is 
hurt.  This  is  not  very  satisfactory  work  for 
the  company  but  is  more  appropriate  for 
the  battalion  and  regiment.  In  these  latter 


COMBAT  57 

it  is  desirable  to  practice  the  necessary  for- 
mations for  such  attacks  and   to  give  the  Night 
officers  experience   in   such    troop    leadiner.  attac  8 
For  this  work  to  be  of  benefit  the  officers 
must  know  their  night  tactics,  the  proper 
formations  to  take  and  the  best  methods  of 
troop    leading;   this  knowledge  should  first 
be  acquired  by  study  and  then  put  to  the 
test  at  night.     It  is  not  well  to  devote  too 
much  time  to  such  work. 

In  many  posts  practice  can  be  had  in 
tactical  work  in  the  woods.  This  oppor-  Woods 
tunity  should  not  be  neglected.  A  good  fighting 
tactician  will  try  to  avoid  a  thick  forest  as  a 
battlefield  but  with  long  lines  of  battle  parts 
of  the  line  will  inevitably  extend  through 
forests.  Hence  the  officers  must  study  the 
principles  governing  woods  fighting  and  seek 
to  train  the  men  so  that  they  can  play  their 
part.  Woods  combat  has  many  of  the  diffi- 
culties of  night  work. 

There  should   be   considerable   work   on 
fire  problems;  it  is  excellent  practice,  especi-  Fire 
ally  for  the  officers  and  non-commissioned  problems 
officers.     Field  firing  is  not  here  meant  but 
simulated  firing.     A  simple  problem  is  given 
and  the  officer  or  sergeant  with  a  platoon  or 
company  solves  it  practically.     By  using  a 


58  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

few  men  with  flags  to  represent  the  enemy  and 
Fire  with  a  proper  critique  afterwards  for  all  the 

pr<         B  company,  great  benefit  should  be  derived. 

As  an  example  of  such  a  problem:  dis- 
pose one  platoon  of  the  company  under  cover 
near  a  ridge  with  a  concealed  man  watching  to 
the  front  and  stationed  about  25  yards  from 
the  platoon,  the  remainder  of  the  company 
400  yards  in  rear  but  in  sight  of  the  platoon. 
The  following  situation  is  then  given  out: 

"This  company  has  been  detached  from 
a  larger  force  back  at  X.  Hostile  cavalry 
is  in  this  neighborhood  and  is  doing  much 
damage.  The  orders  received  when  this 
company  was  detached  stated  that  other 
companies  were  to  go  out  on  other  roads  and 
this  company  on  this  one  to  inflict  as  much 
punishment  as  practicable  on  this  cavalry 
if  encountered.  We  have  reached  this  point 
and  just  halted  for  a  ten  minutes  rest." 

As  soon  as  the  situation  is  fully  under- 
stood and  the  men  are  in  their  respective 
positions,  a  troop  of  cavalry,  represented  by 
a  few  men  with  yellow  flags,  comes  in  view  of 
the  sentinel  and  halts.  Either  verbally,  or 
by  a  signal  agreed  upon,  the  captain  explains 
that  they  have  dismounted  for  rest.  The 
sentinel  and  platoon  commander  now  have 
their  problem. 


COMBAT  59 

As  another  example  take  the  same  general 
situation  in  such  terrain  that  a  glimpse  is  Fire 
caught  of  the  troop  moving  along  a  road  but  Against* 
immediately  it  passes  behind  cover;  several  cavalry 
hundred  yards  beyond,  if  it  continues  on  the 
road,  the  troop  will  again  come  into  view  and 
be  exposed  for  a  considerable  stretch  of  road 
and  within  rifle  range.     What  is  done  now? 

After  the  exercise  the  captain  assembles 
the  company  and  criticises  the  errors  made 
and  points  out  what  should  have  been  done. 
In  the  first  situation  opening  fire  by  a  few  men 
would  result  in  the  hostile  troop's  mount- 
ing and  getting  away  with  little  damage  or 
else  in  their  getting  their  horses  back  under 
cover  and  being  prepared  to  fight  on  foot. 
After  the  company  once  opens  fire  it  will 
have  a  target  but  for  a  very  short  time;  hence 
great  care  must  be  exercised  in  estimating 
the  distance,  dividing  the  target  and  giving 
the  other  necessary  orders  so  as  to  produce  the 
greatest  effect  in  the  least  time.  The  captain 
should  carefully  study  his  problem  and  be 
prepared  to  give  an  instructive  critique. 

A  little  book  called  "Fire  Problems"  by 
T.  D.  Pilcher  of  the  British  Army  is  recom-  Sugge*- 

.  turns  for 

mended  to  our  officers;  it  treats  this  subject  fire 
more  fully,  gives  several  problems  and  shows  Problcm* 
how  the  solutions  should  be  criticized. 


60 


TRAINING  INFANTRY 


The  problems  must  be  gotten  up,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  to  fit  the  ground  you  have. 
A  great  variety  of  fire  problems  is  afforded 
by  any  terrain.  There  should  be  some  prob- 
lems in  which  more  than  one  target  is  offered. 
In  getting  up  problems  do  not  let  yourself  be 
hampered  by  the  critics  who  will  tell  you  that 
a  troop  of  cavalry  would  not  have  crossed 
your  front  without  having  discovered  you  or 
without  having  been  warned  by  its  patrols: 
you  are  teaching  fire  tactics,  not  cavalry 
tactics,  and  besides,  even  cavalry  has  been 
known  to  do  foolish  and  careless  things.  Try 
to  make  the  problem  reasonable  and  one  which 
might  occur  in  war  but  do  not  discard  a  good 
fire  problem  which  teaches  a  valuable  lesson 
because  the  situation  is  one  which  ought 
never  to  arise  in  battle.  Few  problems  that 
are  tried  out  in  maneuvers  will  ever  be 
duplicated  in  that  exact  form  in  war  but  the 
tactical  principles  involved  will  recur  often. 

There  is  one  field  firing  problem  which,  if 
practiced  once  each  year,  would  do  a  world 
of  good  in  securing  fire  distribution.  A  line 
of  prone  figures  is  placed  to  represent  the 
enemy  on  ground  so  selected  that,  while  the 
figures  cannot  all  be  seen  by  the  attackers, 
yet  a  man  in  the  place  of  each  figure  could 


COMBAT  61 

see  the  ground  over  which  the  advance  is 
made.  The  defensive  line  should  not  be  Distrib 
straight;  it  would  seldom  be  so  in  war,  it  t™*  ' 
must  conform  to  the  ground.  There  should 
be  stretches  of  thirty  or  forty  figures  that  are 
concealed,  then  groups  in  plain  view;  brush, 
clumps  of  heavy  grass  afford  the  kind  of  cover 
desired.  Have  the  battalion  go  through  the 
form  of  attacking  this  line,  using  ball  car- 
tridges. Then  have  the  men  inspect  the  tar- 
gets, see  how  plainly  they  could  have  been 
seen  by  the  enemy  while  the  latter  was  out  of 
sight  and  see  the  effect  of  cover  on  the  fire 
drawn  and  the  faults  in  distribution.  After 
this  carefully  explain  the  results  of  a  lack 
of  distribution;  point  out  that  the  long 
stretches  of  the  hostile  line  not  under  fire 
would  have  been  doing  target  practice  work 
on  your  advancing  line  and  what  the  result- 
ing losses  would  have  been. 

It  is  an  effective  way  of  impressing  on 
men's  minds  the  necessity  of  proper  distri- 
bution and  of  firing  where  directed  whether 
they  see  anything  or  not.  It  also  shows  the 
advantage  of  cover,  if  only  from  view.  The 
men  must  be  taught  to  take  advantage  of 
cover,  if  only  from  view,  whenever  offered,  if 
it  can  be  done  without  interfering  with  their 
doing  their  work. 


62  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

For  combat  against  cavalry  the  men  must 
Combat  De  taught  in  their  bayonet  work  the  proper 

cavaTr*  wav  to  °PP°se  a  man  on  horseback.  How  to 
meet  a  charge  with  fire  must  be  largely  theo- 
rectical  but  it  should  be  carefully  explained 
and,  if  a  few  mounted  men  are  available  to 
outline  a  charging  force,  some  practical  work 
can  be  had;  it  is  a  fire  problem. 

There  are  many  problems  in  minor  tactics 
Special  that  should  form  part  of  every  company's 
training,  such  as  forcing  a  defile  or  a  bridge, 
passing  through  a  village  as  a  patrol  or  as 
advance  party  of  an  advance  guard,  passing  a 
woods  under  the  same  conditions  and,  on  the 
side  of  the  defense,  preventing  a  hostile  force 
from  doing  these  things.  There  may  be  no 
gorge  or  pass  through  hills  in  your  immediate 
vicinity  but  the  practice  can  still  be  had: 
two  large  buildings  near  together  will  answer 
for  a  defile;  the  garrison  is  a  village.  If  there 
be  no  bridge,  with  a  little  imagination  you 
can  improvise  something  to  answer.  In  this 
class  of  problems  the  captain  must  know  the 
tactics  of  his  problem  and  be  able  to  explain 
it  thoroughly.  Generally  in  these  problems 
detachments  having  important  missions  have 
to  be  made;  give  their  commanders  muc 
latitude  in  carrying  them  out  and  in  your 


COMBAT  63 

critique  point  out  the  errors  and  how  the  work 
should  have  been  done.     It  is  well  in  all  such  Special 
problems  to  precede  them  by  a  simple  talk  to  c°^*^[ 
the  whole  company  explaining  the  tactical 
principles  governing  the  work.     These  prob- 
lems can  be  made  the  most  interesting  part 
of  the  company's  training. 

Instruction  must  be  given  the  company 
in  meeting  artillery  fire  and  in  the  work  of  the 
various  covering  detachments  but  these  two 
subjects,  owing  to  their  importance  and 
length,  are  reserved  for  consideration  in 
separate  chapters. 

The  company  commander  must  get  the  full 
help  and  support  of  his  platoon  and  squad  Hints  for 
leaders,  much  depends  upon  them;  they  are 
the  real  leaders  of  the  men ;  they  require  much 
training  and  practice,  especially  in  leading  the 
rushes  and  in  controlling  and  directing  fire. 

The  discipline  must  be  strict  in  these  ex- 
ercises, the  men  must  never  be  allowed  to 
slight  the  work.  A  certain  amount  of  latitude 
must  be  given  but  prompt  obedience  to  an 
order  must  be  insisted  upon.  Without  such 
discipline  an  attack  is  hopeless;  the  drill  field 
is  the  place  to  acquire  it. 

In  all  this  work  keep  the  interest  of  the 
men.  Occasionally  take  them  to  a  shady 


64  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

place  and  instruct  them  orally,  explain  the 
Hints  for  objects   sought    and    the  reasons  for   doing 
company  tnjngs  'm  anything  that  is  part  of  their  proper 
training. 

Do  not  keep  at  one  class  of  work  until  the 
men  are  tired  of  it;  vary  the  work.  You  can 
keep  a  company  interested  for  four  hours 
a  day  if  you  will  only  vary  the  instruc- 
tion and  put  some  soul  into  it.  Give  very  little 
place  rest;  for  a  rest  change  the  work.  Com- 
bat exercises  must  be  frequent.  They  are  en- 
titled to  a  large  share  of  the  time;  the  work 
of  the  firing  line  must  be  a  habit. 

THE  BATTALION 

The  period  of  company  training  having 
Hints  for  been  completed  that  of  the  battalion  com- 
battalion  mences>  Tne  same  general  plan  should  be 
followed  as  in  the  case  of  the  company.  The 
mechanism  of  extended  order  should  first  be 
thoroughly  learned,  then  the  attack  against 
an  outlined  enemy,  then  battalion  against' 
battalion.  The  enlisted  men  have  little  new 
to  learn,  the  work  for  them  is  merely  practice 
in  what  they  have  learned  in  the  company 
training.  For  the  captains  it  is  instruction 
in|team|work  and  hr  tactics. 

The  battalion  is  the  attack  unit  and  as  a 


COMBAT  65 

tactical  unit  is  most  important.     An  infantry 

attack  is  largely  a  combination  of  battalion  Hints  for 

attacks.     Every  exercise  should  be  a  problem 

which  teaches  some  lesson  as  well  as  affords 

practice.     The  employment  of  combat  patrols 

of  some  size  can  be  made  a  part  of  the  exercise 

and   their  proper  use   and  leading  taught. 

The  use  of  the  local  support,  how  it  is  handled 

and  how  maneuvered,  is  a  very  important 

part. 

In  these  exercises  the  major  must  control 
his  battalion  as  in  battle.  The  absurdity  of  his 
riding  around  and  giving  verbal  instructions  to 
his  firing  line  must  not  be  permitted.  A  great 
part  of  the  value  of  these  combat  exercises 
lies  in  the  practice  given  in  handling  a  bat- 
talion with  the  limited  means  of  control 
possible  on  the  field  of  battle  and  accustoming 
company  commanders  to  carrying  out  their 
part  under  the  same  conditions.  Majors  thus 
learn  to  give  their  initial  orders  so  as  to  insure 
the  carrying  out  of  their  plan  of  action. 

The  battalion  being  the  attack  unit, 
whether  alone  or  as  part  of  a  long  line,  its 
rushes  are  independent  of  those  of  other  bat- 
talions although  as  a  whole  it  keeps  the 
general  line.  Each  company  of  course  must 
govern  its  advance  by  that  of  the  others  in 


66 


TRAINING  INFANTRY 


the  same  battalion.  An  advance  can  only 
start  from  one  flank  or  the  other  of  the  bat- 
talion and  then  continue  successively  to  com- 
pletion. Rushes  never  start  from  both  flanks 
or  the  center;  the  reason  for  this  is  obvious. 

The  little  flags  mentioned  under  company 
training  can  be  used  in  battalion  training  to 
even  better  advantage.  Captains  are  more 
on  their  own  responsibility  in  a  battalion  than 
are  platoon  commanders  in  a  company  and 
must  act  according  to  assumed  existing  con- 
ditions. In  the  battalion  the  shifting  of  fire 
from  one  target  to  another  is  less  frequent 
than  in  the  company.  New  unexpected  tar- 
gets are  cared  for,  as  a  rule,  by  the  support. 

Battalion  commanders  have  more  need  of 
reconnaissance  and  must  get  experience  in 
ordering  it  properly  and  judging  the  reports 
and  basing  their  action  thereon. 

When  a  battalion  operates  against  bat- 
talion the  colonel  should  prepare  the  prob- 
lems and  act  as  umpire.  If  he  does  not  do 
this  the  practice  should  not  be  omitted,  the 
majors  concerned  must  get  up  their  own 
although  this  is  not  so  satisfactory. 

The  battalion  commander  or  colonel 
should  give  a  critique  after  each  exercise, 
pointing  out  all  errors  of  tactics  and  of  exe- 


COMBAT  67 

cution.     There  should   be    much    more    of 
tactical  instruction  and  less  of  mechanical  Hints  for 
training  in  battalion  work  than  in  the  com-     atta  lon 

training 

pany. 

Majors  should  not  be  limited  to  these 
drill  periods  to  instruct  their  officers  but  be 
allowed  to  have  tactical  walks  at  other  times. 
A  major  should  have  a  good  knowledge  of 
tactics,  be  able  to  give  clear  and  concise  orders 
and  enter  into  the  spirit  of  his  work.  Four 
good  companies,  under  a  competent  major 
learn  with  very  little  practice  to  work  to- 
gether as  a  team  and  become  an  efficient 
battalion. 

THE  REGIMENT 

In  the  period  alloted  to  the  regiment  the 
solution  of  tactical  problems  and  thereby 
the  gaining  of  experience  in  team  work  and 
imparting  tactical  instruction  to  the  officers 
are  the  ends  sought.  The  same  rules  as  to 
method  of  control,  giving  of  orders  and 
critique  apply  as  in  the  case  of  the  battalion. 

The  colonel  is  responsible  for  the  training 
of  his  regiment.  It  is  not  trained  until  the 
three  battalions,  the  band,  machine  gun  pla- 
toon and  mounted  detachment  are  trained, 
each  in  its  special  work,  and  then  the  whole  is 
practiced  as  a  team. 


68  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

The  training  of  the  twelve  companies,  as 
such  and  as  battalions,  has  been  discussed. 

The  band  forms  a  large  part  numerically 
Band  of  the  sanitary  detachment  of  the  regiment 
in  battle.  It  must  be  trained  and  made 
efficient.  This  should  be  done  by  the  officers 
of  the  Medical  Corps  serving  with  the  regi- 
ment. There  should  be  no  perfunctory  per- 
formance of  this  work;  the  colonel  should 
see  that  it  is  thoroughly  done. 

The  officer  in  command  of  the  machine  gun 
Machine  platoon  must  not  only  instruct  his  men  in  the 
g"atoon    care  and  working  of  the  guns,  but  in  the  proper 
care  of  all  his  equipment,  including  the  ani- 
mals.    The  machine  gun  is  an   emergency 
weapon;  the  commander  of  the  machine  gun 
company  must  thoroughly  understand   the 
tactical  use  of  this  weapon  and  be  able  to  act 
as  circumstances  demand  even  without  in- 
structions. 
Mounted         The  mounted  detachment  must  be  trained 

me'nf"       &S  SC°UtS- 

The  principal  objects  sought  in  the  regi- 
mental period  are  practice  and  experience  by 
the  colonel  in  handling  his  regiment  as  a 
Objects    whole,  practice  by  the  regiment  in  team  work, 
sought     and  tactjcai  instruction  for  all.     A  practical 
me^taV    knowledge  of  tactics  on  the  part  of  the  colonel 
training  is  essential  if  these  exercises  are  to  be  correctly 


COMBAT  69 

carried  out  and  his  critique  of  value.     Over- 
looking tactical  errors  in  these  exercises  does 
much  harm,  younger  officers  gain  wrong  ideas       r     _ 
and  it  is  hard  to  eradicate  errors  once  firmly  mental 
fixed  in  the  mind.  training 

If  the  different  units  of  the  regiment  are 
separately  well  trained  it  requires  few  exer- 
cises to  make  a  team  of  them,  good  regimental 
work  is  largely  a  question  of  the  tactical  skill 
and  ability  of  the  colonel.  If  he  is  competent 
and  the  units  are  separately  well  trained 
the  regiment  is  trained.  Placing  these  well 
trained  units  in  the  hands  of  an  incompetent 
regimental  commander  is  but  placing  a  fine 
and  complicated  machine  in  the  hands  of  an 
unskilled  operator;  there  is  a  fair  chance  that 
he  will  ruin  the  machine. 


ARTILLERY  FIRE 

Object  p>XCEPT  in  small  engagements  in  detach- 
•tudy  "^  ment  warfare  the  infantry  will  have  the 
of  assistance  of  friendly  artillery  and  will  be  op- 

artillery  p0se(i  not  only  by  infantry  but  by  artillery 
fire.  Some  knowledge  of  artillery,  its  use,  the 
effects  it  can  produce  and  how  best  to  utilize 
the  aid  afforded  by  our  own  and  to  meet  the 
opposition  of  the  enemy's,  is  therefore  neces- 
sary for  the  infantry  officer  and  also  for  the 
men  in  ranks.  While  familiarity  with  the  ar- 
tillery will  be  far  from  breeding  contempt,  it 
will  enable  the  infantry  to  escape  much  un- 
necessary loss  and,  by  correcting  the  false 
conception  so  many  have  of  its  power,  it  will 
improve  the  morale  of  our  men. 

This  chapter  is  not  intended  to  teach  in- 
fantry officers  what  they  should  know  about 
artillery  and  its  use.  It  is  offered  merely  as 
a  suggestion  as  to  what  our  men  should  be 
taught  and  how  to  train  them  to  meet  certain 
phases  of  this  fire.  The  officer  should  know 
much  more  about  the  subject  and  must  go 

70 


ARTILLERY  FIRE  71 

to  more  extended  works  by  more  competent 
men  for  the  instruction. 

Artillery  is  effective  against  infantry  both 
physically  and  morally.  The  moral  effect 
is  the  greater,  the  less  instructed  and  trained 
is  the  man.  Most  untrained  men  have  very 
exaggerated  ideas  as  to  the  effectiveness  of 
artillery,  they  know  nothing  but  guess  much. 
It  is  the  terror  of  the  unknown. 

There  are  two  general  classes  of  artillery 
that  accompany  an  army:  light  and  heavy.  Classes 
The  light  artillery  may  be  rifles  or  light  howit-  °rtiljer 
zers;  the  first  have  a  flat  trajectory,  the  others, 
of  greater  caliber,  have  the  advantage  of  being 
able  to  use  high  angle  fire.  Mountain  and 
horse  artillery  are  merely  subdivisions  of  the 
light  artillery  and,  except  that  the  mountain 
artillery  is  less  effective  at  long  ranges  than 
the  others,  "all  look  alike"  to  the  infantry 
advancing  under  their  fire. 

The  heavy  field  artillery  in  our  service 
comprises  4.7"  and  5"  rifles  and  6"  and  1" 
howitzers.  Their  range  is  much  greater  than 
that  of  the  pieces  of  the  light  field  artillery. 
In  a  general  way  we  may  say  that  these  heavy 
pieces  will  be  used  only  against  hostile  bat- 
teries, earth  works  and  material  objects  or 
against  troops  caught  in  some  mass  forma- 


72  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

tion.  They  will  generally  not  be  used  against 
an  advancing  skirmish  line  or  troops  in  proper 
formation  to  meet  light  artillery  fire.  There 
is  no  training  to  be  given  infantry  except 
discipline  to  hold  them  to  their  duty  in  an 
earth  work  under  fire  by  heavy  field  artillery, 
hence  in  this  chapter  we  may  ignore  it. 

With  light  field  artillery  it  is  very  different. 
Light  The  light  field  artillery  is  what  concerns  us 
arti  ery  mogt  m  our  training.  The  extreme  range  for 
which  these  guns  are  sighted  is  6500  yards, 
and  at  all  ranges  under  5000  yards  they  can 
produce  serious  losses  on  infantry  exposed  to 
their  fire.  They  use  two  classes  of  projectiles, 
shell  and  shrapnel.  The  high  explosive  shel 
has  a  much  smaller  radius  of  action  than  the 
shrapnel,  but  is  very  effective  within  this 
area.  It  is  generally  used  to  batter  material 
objects  and  with  high  angle  fire  to  get  at  men 
in  trenches  or  behind  cover. 

The  shrapnel  of  the  3"  rifle  contains  252 
Shrapnel  bullets  and  on  burst  these  bullets  are 
scattered  over  an  area,  roughly  speaking, 
eliptical  in  form,  200  yards  in  depth  by  25 
yards  in  width.  The  flatter  the  trajectory, 
the  deeper  becomes  the  pattern  made;  the 
width  practically  does  not  vary.  In  other 
words  the  252  bullets  are  scattered  on  burst 
over  an  area  of  5000  square  yards. 


ARTILLERY  FIRE  73 

If  these  bullets  were  uniformly  distrib- 
uted there  would  be  one  for  every  20  square  Shrapnel 
yards  or  an  area  of  15  x  12  feet.  They  are, 
however,  not  evenly  distributed,  being  thicker 
in  a  small  area  near  the  front  end.  This 
bullet  will  not  penetrate  the  infantry  soldier's 
pack  at  any  range,  so  that  when  lying  on  the 
ground  his  pack  affords  complete  protection  to 
his  spine  and  considerable  protection  to  all 
vital  parts  except  his  head.  The  chance  then 
of  a  man  being  wounded  by  a  single  shrapnel, 
even  when  inside  the  cone  of  dispersion,  would 
only  be  about  1  in  80  if  in  the  open  and  very 
much  less  with  partial  cover,  as  a  trench,  log, 
etc.  The  shrapnel  bullet  will  not  pass  through 
one  man  and  wound  a  second  as  will  the  infantry 
bullet. 

While  artillery  can  fire  very  rapidly  once 
the  range  data  is  accurately  determined  it  re-  Rate  of 
quires  considerable  time  to  get  into  position 
and  determine  this  data.     Until  then  it  is 
harmless. 

An  erratically  shifting  target  is  hard  for 
artillery  to  keep  on.  The  fuze  must  be  so  Moving 
set  that  the  burst  is  at  the  proper  height  and 
distance  to  the  front  of  the  target  to  be  effec- 
tive, both  not  easy  especially  in  case  of  a  mov- 
ing target,  and  the  more  erratic  the  move- 


74  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

ment  the  harder  is  the  task  of  the  artillery- 
man. 

On  the  defense  the  man's  protection  is 
On  the  much  better  for  he  will  generally  have  cover 
of  some  kind,  but  he  has  also  a  serious  dis- 
advantage, the  line  remains  fixed,  the  hostile 
artillery  soon  locates  it,  gets  its  exact  range 
and  can  place  its  own  fire  where  it  will  do  the 
most  good.  This  is  a  decided  offset  to  the 
defenders'  diminished  vulnerability.  The 
use  of  high  explosive  shells  by  their  moral  as 
well  as  physical  effect  weakens  any  advantage 
the  defense  might  have  as  concerns  artillery 
fire. 

To  determine  the  relative  vulnerability  of 
Artillery  different  infantry  formations  let  us  apply  to 
them  the  target  made  by  a  bursting  shrapnel. 
A  line  of  skirmishers  at  the  normal  interval 
extending  across  this  beaten  zone  would  have 
19  or  20  men  inside  its  extreme  limits;  if  in 
squad  columns  there  would  be  2  squads  at 
least  and  generally  3  squads  or  24  men  and 
the  target,  being  much  deeper,  would  give 
the  artillery  a  better  chance  as  it  is  easier 
to  get  direction  correctly  than  the  point  of 
burst. 

In  platoon  columns  there  can  be  but  one 
platoon  in  the  same  burst  if  fire  comes  from 


ARTILLERY  FIRE  75 

the  front,  and  platoons  are  4  squads  strong, 
but  the  whole  platoon  may  be  within  it.  If,  Artillery 
however,  the  direction  of  the  artillery  fire  be 
very  oblique,  and  the  platoons  are  on  a  line, 
more  than  one  platoon  may  be  caught  by  a 
single  burst  but  not  all  of  any  one  column. 

In  successive  thin  lines,  if  the  advance 
be  made  by  one  man  from  a  squad,  and  the 
fuze  and  direction  be  just  right,  there  may  be 
2  men  in  the  cone  of  dispersion,  which  is  to 
say  that,  in  that  formation,  the  artillery  has 
about  one  chance  in  forty  of  wounding  a  man. 
If  the  advance  be  by  one  man  from  each  pla- 
toon the  artillery's  chance,  provided  range 
and  fuze  are  correct,  is  one  in  two  that  one 
man  will  be  within  the  cone  of  dispersion  of  a 
given  shrapnel  and,  if  in  there,  there  is  one 
chance  in  80  of  his  being  hit;  in  other  words, 
the  artillery  has  one  chance  in  160  of  getting 
one  man  and  no  possibility  of  getting  two. 
Such  a  target  will  hardly  draw  artillery  fire. 

An  infantry  battalion  in  column  of  squads 
well  closed  up  can  nearly  all  be  covered  by  the 
burst  of  a  shrapnel.  Such  a  target  would 
likely  draw  many  shots  as  would  a  com- 
pany in  this  formation. 

We  can  only  win  in  the  attack  if  our  in- 
fantry can  advance  to  the  hostile  position. 


76  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

We  must  get  there,  and  as  soon  as  practicable 
The  and  with  the  least  loss  of  life.  We  can  not 
under"  a^or(^  to  ^ose  ^°°  many  m  the  advance  or  we 
artillery  shall  be  too  weak  at  the  end  to  drive  the 
fire  enemy  from  his  position. 

The  infantry  can  not  open  fire  until  within 
rifle  range  of  the  enemy  and  should  try  to  get 
much  closer  before  doing  so.  In  open  country, 
however,  infantry  may  be  subjected  to  artil- 
lery fire  while  crossing  the  ground  from  5000 
yards  to,  say  1200  yards  from  the  hostile  posi- 
tion, with  no  chance  to  reply.  The  problem 
to  be  solved  by  the  infantry  commander  is 
how  to  cross  this  zone  without  losing  too 
many  men  and  too  much  time. 

In  skirmish  line.     The  long  advance  in 
In  this  formation  is  tedious  work,  and  the  target 

line™  '  °ffered  is  sufficiently  vulnerable  to  draw  artil- 
lery fire.  If  no  cover  is  afforded  in  the  ter- 
rain the  line  is  apt  to  suffer  heavy  loss  and 
become  more  or  less  disorganized  before  reach- 
ing the  point  where  it  will  take  up  the  fire 
fight.  Where  the  line  of  advance  is  crossed 
by  ridges,  sunken  roads  and  other  features  of 
that  kind  affording  cover,  where  the  line  can 
rest  and  to  a  certain  extent  refoim,  this  for- 
mation can  be  used  to  advantage,  especially  if 
the  terrain  permits  us  to  approach  under 


ARTILLERY  FIRE  77 

cover  from  artillery  fire  to  within  two  or  three 
thousand  yards.     If  this  formation  be  used  In 
in  a  force  of  some  size,  as  a  war  strength  battal- 
ion or  more,  the  platoons  should  not  keep  on  a 
line  but  in  an  irregular  echelon  formation. 


This  makes  a  much  more  difficult  target 
for  the  artillery.  The  distance  from  front  to 
rear  between  any  two  adjoining  platoons 
should  not  be  less  than  150  yards.  The 
advance  in  skirmish  line  has  the  advantage 
of  being  in  the  formation  that  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  have  when  you  open  fire  and  no  changes 
are  necessary  and,  if  the  enemy  is  enountered 
much  sooner  than  expected,  you  are  prepared. 

The  squad  column.  This  formation  was 
devised  by  our  soldiers  at  maneuvers  at  The 
Sparta  and  in  California,  where  the  ground 
in  part  was  covered  with  thick  brush.  It  was 
found  an  excellent  formation  to  take  when  the 
skirmish  line  encountered  these  patches  of 


78  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

thick  brush.     Since  it  was  placed  in  the  I.  D. 

The         R.  it  has  been  understood  by  some  as  a  good 

column   f°rmati°n  f°r  advancing  in  the  open  against 

artillery  fire.     This  is  a  mistake.     It  should 

never  be  so  used.    In  this  formation  there  will 

always  be  two  squads,  and  generally  three,  in 

the  burst  of  a  single  shrapnel,  exposing  more 

men  to  danger  than  if  they  were  in  skirmish 

line. 

Marching  in  column  of  files  is  not  as  easy 
as  in  line  on  open  ground.  Remember  good 
artillery  is  pretty  accurate  in  getting  direction. 
Most  shots  will  be  at  the  head  of  a  column 
and  if  at  the  head  of  one,  another  on  each  side 
is  included  in  the  burst.  Direction  is  much 
easier  to  get  in  artillery  fire  than  exact  fuze 
setting  in  the  case  of  a  moving  target;  this  is 
another  reason  against  the  squad  column, 
the  target  is  deeper  and  thus  slightly  im- 
proves the  chances  of  the  artillery.  This 
formation  not  only  has  no  advantage  on  open 
ground,  in  an  advance  under  artillery  fire,  but 
does  have  disadvantages. 

Platoon  columns.     In  average  terrain  this 

Platoon     formation  will  be  more  used  than  any  other. 

The  distance  between  these  columns  is  great 

enough  so  that  a  shrapnel  bursting  between 

two  may  entirely  miss  both ;  it  also  permits  a 


ARTILLERY  FIRE  79 

more  or  less  erratic  or  zig  zag  course  to  be 
followed.     Each   column  is  lead  presumably  Platoon 
by  a  more  intelligent  and  better  instructed  co  umns 
man  than  in  the  case  of  the  squad. 

These  columns  should  never  be  on  the 
same  line  but  echeloned  as  explained  for  the 
skirmish  line. 

In  most  terrains  there  are  little  hills, 
clumps  of  trees,  buildings  and  other  cover  of 
the  same  general  kind.  Platoon  leaders  must 
while  keeping  generally  within  their  own 
zones  of  advance,  rush  from  one  cover  to  an- 
other where  it  is  offered  and,  where  cover  is 
wanting,  vary  the  pace  and  avoid  advancing 
in  a  straight  line. 

Properly  done  this  formation  is  one  of  the 
best.  No  time  is  lost,  the  columns  are  far 
enough  apart  to  allow  of  advantage  being 
taken  of  all  the  cover  afforded,  and  the 
target  is  not,  on  average  terrain,  too  -vulner- 
able. It  is  not  so  good  on  flat  open  plains 
and  it  should  not  be  used  on  such  ground  if 
the  artillery  fire  is  very  oblique  to  the  line  of 
advance. 

This  form  of  advance  requires  that  pla- 
toon leaders  understand  the  theory  and  also 
requires  much  practice  on  different  sites  to 
give  platoon  commanders  facility  in  leading 


80  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

and  skill  in  taking  advantage  of  the  cover 
Platoon  offered.  This  is  one  of  the  things  in  which 
captains  should  give  instruction  during  the 
indoor  season  with  the  aid  of  the  sand  table. 
In  addition  outdoor  practice  is  most  necessary. 
When  this  formation  is  adopted  platoon  com- 
manders should  know,  if  possible,  before 
starting  where  line  of  skirmishers  is  to  be 
formed. 

Successive    thin    lines.     This    is    by   all 
Succes-     means  the  safest  formation  on  open  ground  in 


t  m  piajn  vjew  0£  fae  hostile  artillery  observing 

lines 

station.  The  successive  lines  must  be  so  far 
apart  that  no  one  shrapnel  can  reach  two;  this 
distance  depends  on  the  range  but  may  be 
taken  as  200  yards.  With  one  man  from 
each  squad  there  will  be  two  in  the  cone  of  a 
single  shrapnel  that  bursts  right;  if  the  enemy 
is  so  situated  that  he  can  afford  to  fire  at  such 
a  target  and  you  do  not  want  to  pay  the  cost 
for  such  an  advance,  then  send  one  man  from 
each  platoon  in  each  line.  Hostile  artillery 
cannot  afford  to  fire  at  such  a  target  and  if  it 
does  it  will  use  up  ammunition  that  will  be 
much  needed  later  and  get  small  results  for 
the  expenditure. 

The  chief  objection  to  this  formation  is  the 
time  it  takes.     In  advancing  in  skirmish  line 


ARTILLERY  FIRE  81 

or  in  platoon  columns  your  firing  line  is  es- 
tablished as  soon  as  you  get  your  first  line  up,  s"cces- 
while,    with   successive    lines   formed    from          * 
squads,  it  takes  the  longer  time  required  for  a 
line  to  advance  1400  yards,  and  if  formed 
from  platoons  it  takes  the  time  required  for  a 
line  to  advance  6200  yards. 

This  formation  is  also  safe  against  oblique 
fire. 

The  training  of  the  men  for  it  is  simple. 
Before  the  line  starts  the  point  where  it  is  to 
be  rebuilt  must  be  carefully  designated. 
That  the  line  may  be  rebuilt  without  con- 
fusion or  mixing,  each  man  must  be  taught  to 
keep  his  eyes  on  the  next  preceding  man  of 
his  own  squad  or  platoon  to  ensure  his  find- 
ing his  right  place  in  the  new  line. 

After  a  few  of  the  successive  lines  have 
reached  the  new  position,  they  form  a  dense 
enough  target  to  draw  artillery  fire.  For  this 
reason  the  position  of  the  new  line  should  be 
one  affording  cover  from  artillery  fire  if  possi- 
ble; if  not,  men  must  get  cover  by  digging  to 
protect  at  least  their  heads  from  shrapnel. 
Head  cover  and  the  pack  will  give  them  pro- 
tection from  being  killed  if  not  from  being 
wounded. 

If  the  advance  in  this  manner  must  be  for 


82  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

three  or  four  thousand  yards  and  the  enemy 
has  advanced  posts  or  is  likely  to  make 
an  infantry  counter  attack,  the  advance  over 
this  whole  distance  can  not  be  made  at  once 
but  must  be  made  by  steps,  growing  shorter 
as  you  approach  the  enemy's  position. 

The  artillery  will  often  sweep  with  fire  an 
Artillery  area  being  crossed  by  infantry.  This  is  done 
sweeping  ^  jncreasmg  or  decreasing  the  range  after 
each  shot  until  the  entire  area  is  beaten.  If 
this  process  be  repeated  often  enough  the 
artillery  will  get  anything  within  this  area 
not  under  cover.  But  this  does  not  change 
the  average  number  of  shrapnel  required  to 
get  a  man  nor  does  it  render  advisable  a  great 
expenditure  of  ammunition  for  meager  re- 
sults. 

Infantry  encountering  this  kind  of  fire 
should,  as  it  approaches,  lie  down  and  get 
what  cover  is  available  and,  after  the  storm 
has  passed,  move  on. 

The  artillery  may  determine  the  exact 
range  to  some  zone  which  the  advancing  in- 
fantry has  to  cross  and,  as  the  infantry  reaches 
it,  open  a  heavy  and  accurate  fire.  The  in- 
fantry must  cross  this  zone  in  a  formation 
which  decreases  its  vulnerability  as  much  as 
practicable,  consistent  with  other  condi- 
tions, such  as  the  hostile  infantry  fire. 


ARTILLERY  FIRE  83 

The  enemy's  guns  can  get  you  if  they  ex- 
pend enough  ammunition  at  the  task;  but  Artillery 
can  they  afford  the  ammunition?    Your  own  ^€ 
artillery  may  interfere  with  such  an  expendi- 
ture even  if  the  enemy  were  willing  to  make  it. 

A  division  deployed  with  2500  men  on  the 
firing  line,  crossing  correctly  in  thin  lines  a 
fire-swept  zone  from  4000  to  1200  yards, 
might  lose  10%  of  this  number  from  artillery 
fire  and  not  have  its  advance  even  checked. 
With  this  open  formation  the  loss  is  so  small 
that  the  moral  effect  of  it  will  be  negligible 
with  trained  men.  But  a  loss  of  250  men  at 
an  expenditure  of  160  shrapnel  for  each 
means  40,000  shrapnel.  Even  half  that 
much  would  be  more  than  could  generally 
be  afforded. 

After  the  skirmish  line  is  formed  at  the 
position  for  opening  the  infantry  attack,  the  Forming 
further  advance  from  there  is  conducted  as  *kirmish 
already  explained.     In  skirmish  line  the  hos- 
tile infantry  is  now  by  far  your  most  dangerous 
foe,  but  the  artillery  will  still  be  punishing 
you :  your  line  must  advance  under  both  fires. 

Artillery  fire  will  seldom  be  uniformly 
distributed  along  the  entire  skirmish  line  or 
continuous  in  its  action.  There  will  be  blasts 
of  intense  fire,  then  a  lull.  The  troops  must 


84  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

be  trained  to  take  advantage  of  these  lulls 

Forming  to  advance  and  to  lie  quiet  during  the  periods 

line"1    *  of  hottest  fire.      Of  course,  if  for  any  cause  the 

artillery  fire  is  not  very  effective,  the  advance 

continues  as  against  the  infantry. 

Our  infantry  must  be  taught  to  keep  their 
fire  superiority  over  the  hostile  infantry  and 
to  this  object  to  devote  all  their  skill  and 
energy,  but  to  avoid  unnecessary  heavy  loss 
from  artillery  whenever  possible.  The  hos- 
tile infantry  is  their  real  opponent,  their  real 
danger.  As  the  opposing  lines  get  close  the 
losses  from  artillery  fire  become  relatively 
slight,  compared  with  the  losses  from  in- 
fantry fire. 

How  are  we  to  get  this  training  in  most 
How  to  Of  our  posts  where  there  is  no  artillery  to 

advancl    affoi*d  US  the  Practice? 

under  A  man  with  a  red  flag  indicates  the  posi- 

artillery  tion  of  a  hostile  battery,  or,  if  the  battery  is 
fire  concealed,  a  position  that  can  be  seen  and  is 
in  the  general  direction  of  the  battery.  When 
the  flag  is  waved  rapidly  it  indicates  a  rafale 
or  violent  burst  of  fire;  waved  very  slowly,  it 
indicates  slow  fire  by  battery.  In  most  ex- 
ercises no  flag  is  necessary;  the  instructor 
can  give  verbally  the  direction  from  which 
the  artillery  fire  is  coming  in  stating  the 


ARTILLERY  FIRE  85 

problem;  but  in  practicing  the  attack  for- 
mation, under  combined  artillery  and  in- 
fantry fire,  the  flags  should  be  used  to  prac- 
tice platoon  leaders  in  the  rushes  under  such 
conditions. 

Infantry  is  sometimes  detailed  to  support 
batteries  that  are  somewhat  separated  from  Infantry 
the  rest  of  the  troops  and  liable  to  attack  by  a  "tjj^r 
rush  of  infantry  or  cavalry.  Officers  on  this  support 
duty  must  thoroughly  understand  their 
mission.  They  must  protect  the  artillery. 
Artillery  can  generally  take  ample  care  of  it- 
self if  the  attack  comes  directly  from  the  front. 
The  infantry  commander  must  never  mask 
the  fire  of  the  guns.  Where  he  will  place  his 
men  and  what  his  general  dispositions  will  be 
is  a  problem  in  tactics  and  the  solution  will 
vary  with  each  case.  These  general  propo- 
sitions may  be  stated:  his  position  must  be 
such  that  from  it  he  can  effectively  meet  the 
attack;  it  should  not  be  where  he  will  get  too 
much  of  the  fire  directed  on  the  batteries;  the 
command  must  be  well  in  hand  and  the  re- 
connaissance and  observation  groups  so  em- 
ployed that  he  will  have  timely  warning  of 
the  hostile  approach  and  be  prepared  to  meet 
it.  His  position  will  generally  be  to  a  flank 
and  probably  somewhat  to  the  rear,  never  in 
front  of  the  guns. 


86 


TRAINING  INFANTRY 


Infantry 
as  an 
artillery 
support 


Fire  su- 
periority 


Artillery 
fire  over 
infantry 


An  occasional  exercise  in  this  work  should 
be  carried  out  as  a  maneuver.  Something 
should  be  placed  to  represent  the  guns  and  a 
battalion  or  company  assigned  as  their  pro- 
tection while  another  force  is  given  the  mission 
to  capture  them.  This  exercise  should  al- 
ways be  carefully  umpired  to  see  that  the 
guns  get  credit  for  what  they  could  do  if  fire 
is  not  masked.  A  problem  of  this  kind  is  a 
small  part  of  the  work  of  infantry  in  war 
and  when  it  comes  it  is  a  tactical  problem  like 
any  other  attack  or  defense.  The  reason 
for  recommending  it  is  that  it  affords  excellent 
practice  in  security  and  information  service 
and  in  combat  when  one  position  must  be 
avoided.  Combat  exercises  should  be  as 
varied  as  possible,  here  is  another  variety. 

The  importance  of  fire  superiority  has 
already  been  dwelt  upon  as  well  as  how  much 
the  effectiveness  of  hostile  fire  falls  off  as  the 
effectiveness  of  our  own  increases.  Infantry 
alone  does  not  gain  this  fire  superiority  but  it 
gains  it  by  the  help  of  our  powerful  ally  and 
sister  arm,  the  artillery. 

Battle  fronts  are  too  short  for  the  artillery 
to  occupy  space  in  the  line,  even  if  this  were 
a  good  place  for  it  which  it  is  not;  it 
must  fire  over  the  infantry.  All  our  men  must 


ARTILLERY  FIRE  87 


be  made  to  understand  the  effect  of  this 
artillery  fire  on  the  effectiveness  of  the  hos-  Artillery 
tile  infantry,  how  much  more  effective  this  .  *?  c 
latter  would  be  without  the  fire  of  our  artillery, 
and  the  importance  of  having  this  artillery 
fire  kept  up  to  the  last  possible  moment. 
Prove  to  them  how  much  less  we  shall  lose 
by  an  occasional  premature  burst  than  we 
should  lose  by  the  increased  effective- 
ness of  the  hostile  infantry  if  our  artillery 
ceased  to  fire.  The  men  must  be  taught  that  it 
it  is  the  infantry  that  does  most  of  the  killing 
and  that,  especially  at  the  very  short  ranges, 
we  want  all  the  help  we  can  get  to  keep 
down  this  killing  by  the  enemy's  infantry. 

It  has  already  been  shown  why  the  at- 
tacker's artillery  has  an  advantage — the 
target  is  fixed.  If  the  men  are  properly 
taught  this  there  will  be  no  trouble  in  getting 
them  to  want  the  artillery  to  fire  over  their 
heads  as  long  as  possible. 

The  connection  that  must  be  kept  be- 
tween   the    infantry    commander    and    the  Tactical 
commander  of  the  batteries  told  off  to  his  *onnec- 

tion 

support  is  of  the  greatest  importance,  but 
that  will  be  the  function  of  a  higher  ranking 
man  than  this  book  is  written  for. 

How  part  of  this  instruction  is  to  be  given 


88  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

has  already  been  told.  It  is  believed  that 
the  best  way  to  give  the  theoretical  part  is  in 
small  doses  between  exercises  in  the  field — the 
How  to  little  talks  referred  to  before.  Care  must  be 
truct  taken  not  to  give  too  much  at  once  and 
to  continue  explaining  until  the  men  really 
grasp  it.  The  theory  should  go  along  with 
the  practical  work;  some  of  it  can  be  best 
given  in  the  non-commissioned  officers'  school 
and,  as  before  stated,  on  the  sand  table. 

How  and  when  you  do  it  is  of  less  im- 
portance than  that  you  do  it. 


V 


PATROLS,  ADVANCE  AND  REAR  GUARDS,  OUTPOSTS 

PATROLLING.  The  great  importance  of 
this  work  calls  for  the  most  careful 
instruction  being  given  our  men  in  this  duty. 
It  is  not  easy  to  teach,  there  is  so  little  of  it 
that  can  be  done  by  thumb  rule  except  in 
the  simpler  forms  as  visiting  patrols.  The 
first  requisite  is  that  the  instructor  know  the 
subject  thoroughly.  As  this  work  is  in  no 
sense  a  treatise  on  tactics  that  phase  of  the 
question  will  not  be  entered  into  here. 

In  teaching  this  subject  in  the  company 
the  following  course  has  been  found  to  give  Teaching 
good  results.     In  the  winter's  school  thor-  Patrollin* 
oughly  instruct  all  the  non-commissioned  offi- 
cers and  selected  privates  in  the  fundamental 
principles;  for  example,  the  various  forma- 
tions, the  necessity  of  the  leader's  determining 
his  mission  and  knowing  how  to  interpret  what 
he  sees,  how  to  write  a  message,  and  how  to 
decide  many  other  questions. 

With  this  oral  instruction  there  should  be 
work  on  the  relief  map  or  sand  table.     This  Sand 
latter  is  one  of  the  most  important  aids  in  ta  .e 

work 

teaching  this  subject.     The  instructor  with  a 


90  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

small  group  at  the  table  gives  a  simple  situa- 
Sand  tion  and  then,  turning  to  one  of  the  men,  gives 
him  an  order  as  patrol  leader  to  make  a  certain 
patrol  on  the  ground  represented  by  the  map. 
Allow  a  short  time  for  the  section  to  think  it 
over  then  question  the  leader.  First  get  his 
idea  of  his  mission  and  plan  of  action,  ques- 
tion the  others  as  to  what  they  think  of  it, 
then  the  instructor  gives  his  idea  or  concurs 
in  that  already  given  by  the  men. 

Next  the  leader  should  be  required  to  tell 
what  he  would  do  up  to  the  time  of  moving 
out,  the  inspection  he  would  make,  what 
men  must  have  and  what  they  must  not  have, 
all  the  instructions  and  information  he  would 
give  his  patrol.  The  other  members  are 
called  on  in  turn  to  point  out  any  errors  or 
omissions,  then  this  part  is  discussed.  The 
leader  then  points  out  his  general  route  and 
gives  the  formation  of  his  patrol  along  this 
route  under  the  supposition  that  no  enemy  is 
encountered.  The  others  are  questioned  as  to 
their  ideas  of  the  correctness  of  the  leader's 
decision. 

The  instructor  should  then  take  up  the 
march  in  detail,  something  as  follows:  When 
you  reached  this  point  what  would  you  do? 
How  would  you  get  from  here  to  there? 


PATROLS  91 

When  you  reached  the  bottom  of  this  little 
hill  what  did  you  do?    And  so  on,  bringing  out  Sand 
carefully  and  thoroughly  how  woods,  bridges, 
defiles  and  villages  are  traversed,  etc. 

At  the  conclusion  the  instructor  should 
go  back  to  the  start  and  at  various  points 
along  the  route  have  them  see  various  hostile 
patrols  and  bodies  of  troops,  bring  out  what 
should  be  done  in  each  new  situation,  what 
messages  sent,  whether  by  one  man  or  more, 
whether  written  or  verbal,  requiring  in  every 
case  the  reasons.  The  problem  should  be 
worked  out  once  on  the  assumption  that  the 
patrol  is  in  hostile  territory  and  once  as  in 
friendly  territory,  the  instructor  bringing 
out  clearly  the  difference  in  conduct.  The 
mission  should  then  be  changed,  as  for  in- 
stance from  a  patrol  seeking  information 
change  the  problem,  on  the  same  ground  so  as 
to  give  it  a  mission  of  screening. 

The  various  phases  of  patrolling,  in 
friendly  and  hostile  territory,  with  a  mission  to 
gain  information  and  then  to  prevent  the 
enemy's  gaining  it  should  be  worked  out 
carefully  on  the  same  ground  with  only  the 
necessary  changes  in  the  problem  to  bring 
out  the  differences  in  their  conduct.  It  seems 
to  impress  these  differences  on  the  men  the 


92  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

more  lastingly,  the  more  closely  the  problems 
Sand  resemble  each  other  in  other  respects  and 
work  wnen  they  are  on  the  same  ground. 

After  this  series  is  once  worked  through 
with  the  men,  other  problems  on  different 
ground  are  taken.  It  takes  considerable 
work  of  this  kind  to  make  the  men  proficient 
in  the  principles  of  patrolling.  As  soon  as 
they  are  deemed  proficient  they  should  be 
taken  out  for  tactical  walks  in  patrol  prob- 
lems on  the  ground  and  there  given  problems 
to  solve,  the  instructor  acting  as  umpire. 
This  is  all  work  that  can  be  done  in  most 
posts  in  the  winter  season  by  taking  advan- 
tage of  the  most  favorable  weather  for  the 
outdoor  part. 

The  instruction  in  the  principles  of  patrol 
leading  can  be  given  to  better  advantage  on 
the  relief  map  or  sand  table  than  on  the  ground 
but  the  latter  training  can  not  be  dispensed 
with,  some  of  it  must  be  given.  Later  on 
there  should  be  much  opportunity  for  further 
practice  in  the  course  of  the  combat  exercises. 

The   work   of   the   expeditionary   patrol 

should  be  taught  in  the  same  manner.     The 

Other         work  of  the  visiting  and  connecting  patrols 

atrolHn     can  ^e  taught  during  the  exercises  in  advance 

guard  and  outposts.     They  require  very  little 


PATROLS  93 

effort.  The  company  as  a  whole  should  be 
frequently  exercised  as  a  strong  patrol.  There  Other 
is  one  form  of  patrol,  often  very  strong,  that 
is  of  great  importance  and  yet  its  proper 
training  is  frequently  neglected — the  combat 
patrol.  These  patrols  are  always  thrown  out 
when  a  command  deploys  for  action  and  upon 
their  proper  conduct  much  depends.  Their 
mission  is  always  to  prevent  the  firing  line 
from  being  unexpectedly  fired  into  from  the 
flank  and  they  fulfill  this  mission  according 
to  the  situation,  either  by  securing  the  flank 
by  themselves  holding  off  the  enemy,  or  by 
observing  and  giving  timely  warning  so  that 
the  support  or  reserves  can  be  disposed  to 
meet  the  enemy  and  thus  ward  off  the  at- 
tack. 

It  must  be  thoroughly  impressed  on  all 
what  the  mission  of  the  combat  patrol  leader 
really  means  and  that  any  position  or  for- 
mation of  such  a  patrol,  that  allows  the  firing 
line  to  be  so  attacked  is  all  wrong. 

The  following  must  be  thoroughly  taught: 

1.  That  when   the  patrol  is  so  situated  The 
that  it  can  see  no  more  than  the  men  on  that  patrol 
flank  of  the  firing  line  it  is  serving  no  valuable 
purpose. 

2.  That  in  practically  all  cases  where  it 


The 


94  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

is  not  in  advance  of  the  firing  line  it  will  not 
gain  the  necesary  information  in  time  to  be  of 


3.  That  the  enemy  must  not  get  within 
effective  rifle  range  of  the  flank  of  the  line. 

The  strength  of  the  combat  patrol 
must  depend  on  whether  it  is  merely  to  ob- 
serve or  to  offer  real  resistance  and  its  con- 
duct must  be  governed  accordingly. 

It  is  believed  that  the  principles  govern- 
ing this  work  can  be  best  taught,  after  a  talk 
in  the  school,  by  a  form  of  tactical  walk,  where 
the  instructor  can  devote  himself  to  the  hand- 
ling of  this  patrol;  later  on  it  is,  of  course, 
practiced  in  all  battle  exercises. 

In  the  conduct  of  such  walks  the  in- 

Combat  structor  takes  his  class  out  as  such  patrol  and 

tactical   states  nis  Pr°blem,  the  firing  line  being  repre- 

walk        sented  by  a  few  men  or  even  entirely  im- 

aginary, its  progress  being  announced  from 

time  to  time.     The  instructor  then  acts  as 

leader,  explains  what  is  to  be  done  and,  as- 

suming he  has  a  platoon,  takes  his  first  posi- 

tion.   He  conceals  his  platoon  and  has  ob- 

servers out  covering  him  and  so  placed  that 

any  enemy  approaching  will  be  seen  in  time, 

and  that  he  will  be  in  the  best  position  to  meet 

him.     The  number  of  sentinels  out  and  their 


PATROLS  95 

distance  from  the  main  body  of  the  platoon 
depend  on  the  terrain.  He  then  carefully  Combat 
points  out  his  dispositions  to  the  class  and 
explains  why  made  and  assuming  in  turn  that 
the  enemy  is  approaching  from  each  of  the 
likely  directions,  how  his  dispositions  enable 
him  to  meet  fully  the  case.  The  necessity  for 
signal  communication  with  the  commander 
is  explained  and  how  he  has  provided  for  it. 

He  then  discusses  the  terrain  with  refer- 
ence to  the  next  advance.  As  the  firing  line 
advances  where  he  should  next  go,  and  how 
get  there.  A  small  patrol  advances  to  the 
next  position  selected,  finds  it  unoccupied 
and  so  signals  back.  The  platoon  then  moves 
there  and  sentinels  are  sent  out  as  before  and 
possibly  small  reconnoitering  patrols.  The 
same  discussion  as  before.  Also  from  time 
to  time  hostile  patrols  are  assumed  to  be  seen 
and  what  should  be  done  explained;  when 
fire  would  be  opened  on  the  main  hostile  line, 
if  at  all.  In  fact  the  whole  conduct  of  this 
patrol  until  the  conclusion  of  the  fight  should 
be  discussed,  showing  how  it  jumps  from  place 
to  place,  always  covered  by  sentinels  or  small 
patrols,  and  how  the  firing  line  is  always  pro- 
tected by  it  from  surprise.  He  should  point 
out  how,  in  most  cases,  a  mere  marching  along 


96  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

in  a  straight  line  would  utterly  fail,  and  im- 
Combat  press  upon  the  men  the  fact  that  the  leader 
patj.°  .  must  use  his  head  all  the  time. 

tactical 

walk  Having  gone  through  such  an  exercies 

once  or  more,  the  instructor  solving  the  pro- 
blem himself,  he  should  then  prepare  the 
problem  and,  having  stated  it,  call  on  the 
class  to  solve  it  step  by  step  in  the  same 
manner.  In  all  cases  of  errors  in  disposition 
the  instructor  assumes  an  enemy  from  a 
certain  direction  and  has  the  class  realize  the 
error  by  their  inability  to  meet  the  situation. 
The  importance  of  keeping  as  many  of  the 
patrol  as  practicable  well  in  hand  must  be 
emphasized. 

Any  combat  patrol  that  is  to  offer  resist- 
ance, from  a  squad  to  a  company,  is  handled 
in  the  same  way.  The  work  of  the  smaller 
combat  patrols  whose  duty  is  only  to  observe 
are  likewise  taught  in  the  same  way.  The 
terrain  and  conditions  bringing  about  their 
use  instead  of  the  larger  ones  make  the 
problem  easier. 

The  officers  of  the  battalion  should  be 
taken  on  such  walks  by  the  major  or  some 
other  officer.  The  company  commander 
should  conduct  them  for  his  lieutenants  and 
non-commissioned  officers. 


ADVANCE  GUARDS  97 

The  men  should  also  be  practiced  in  the 
same  way,  as  the  combat  patrol  or  cover-  Combat 
ing  detachment  of  a  defensive  line.     This  -£**J£!al 
work  is  simpler,  the  patrol  generally  does  not  waik 
move  from  position  to  position.     Its  mission 
is  the  same  as  in  the  attack  and  even  more 
important.     In  the  defense  very  much  de- 
pends on  the  selecting  of  the  best  position 
for  this  patrol  and  the  correct  dispositions 
being  taken. 

The  case  must  be  also  considered  of  a 
patrol  sent  out  by  the  defense  for  reconnais- 
sance or  screening  which  in  case  of  attack 
becomes  the  combat  patrol. 

In  a  battle  line  with  intervals,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  enveloping  attack,  connecting 
files  must  be  used.  Their  object  is  to  keep 
the  commanders  of  the  subdivision  informed 
as  to  how  the  other  is  progressing.  This 
can  generally  be  done  by  forming  points 
in  the  line  joining  the  two  inner  flanks.  In 
some  cases  this  will  not  serve.  Rules  for  this 
can  not  be  given. 

Advance  Guard.     In  most  commands  too 
much  of  our  limited  field  training  period  is  Advance 
devoted  to  work  of  advance  and  rear  guards.  ?u*r  . 

training 

It  is  important  and  must  be  taught,  but  if  the 
other  work  which  is  the  real  foundation  for 


98  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

this  is  properly  done  but  little  more  time  is 
Advance  required  outside  of  the  maneuver  exercises 
for  training  the  enlisted  men.  Patrolling  and 
combat  form  most  of  the  work  in  these  exer- 
cises so  far  as  the  men  are  concerned. 

There  are  many  tactical  problems  that 
come  to  the  officers  in  this  class  of  work  and 
they  must  know  how  to  solve  them.  This  is 
the  work  of  the  school  for  officers  and  should 
be  effectively  done. 

The  point  is  but  a  patrol  with  a  special 
mission.     The    flanking    groups   are  recon- 
noitering  and  scouting  patrols  but  they  in- 
Advance     volve  some  new  features.     When  a  recontre 
guard         engagement  occurs  on  the  march  one  of  the 

rencontre 

first  things  the  commander  wants  to  know  is 
the  strength  of  the  enemy  and  his  location;  if 
deployed,  where  is  his  line?  Where  its  flank? 
If  not  deployed,  what  is  he  doing?  As  the 
advance  party  deploys  and  pushes  on,  these 
flanking  groups  have  the  best  opportunity  to 
observe  and  by  reconnaissance  to  gain  valu- 
able information.  They  also  become,  tem- 
porarily at  least,  combat  patrols  to  the  firing 
line.  The  men  must  be  taught  to  carry  out 
this  mission  without  further  orders  and  to  do 
it  correctly.  In  case  small  detachments  at- 
tempt to  delay  our  march,  these  patrols  by 


ADVANCE  GUARDS  99 

flanking  them  can  greatly  hurry  their  retreat 
and  prevent  the  delay  of  our  column. 

The  general  principle  of  advance  and  rear 
guards  should  be  taught  the  company.  This  Maneuver 
work  can  de  done  in  part  at  the  relief  map  and  work 
sand  table,  but  the  company  should  be  ex- 
ercised on  the  ground  as  the  advance  guard  of 
a  battalion  and  as  the  advance  party  of  a 
larger  advance  guard,  the  other  troops  being 
imaginary,  Afterwards  two  companies  should 
work  against  each  other,  one  as  rear  party  of 
a  rear  guard,  the  other  as  advance  party  of  an 
advance  guard;  also  each  as  advance  party 
in  a  rencontre. 

If  the  foundation  has  been  properly  laid 
there  is  no  difficulty  in  teaching  the  applica- 
tion of  these  principles  to  covering  detach- 
ments. If  it  has  not  been  so  laid  and  the 
men  do  not  thoroughly  understand  patrol- 
ling in  its  different  forms,  it  will  be  hard  to 
teach  it  in  these  exercises. 

In  maneuver  exercises  problems  involving 
rencontre  engagements  and  engagements  in- 
volving a  marching  column  encountering  an 
enemy  in  position  should  be  had  to  train  the 
officers  in  tactics  and  to  give  the  men  practice 
in  combat  exercises  and  in  the  patrolling  neces- 
sary. 


100  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

Outposts.  The  general  principles  of  out- 
Outpost  pOSt  duty,  the  duties  of  sentinels,  the  general 
ing  formation  of  an  outpost  line  with  its  sub- 
divisions must  be  taught  the  men  indoors. 
The  officers  have  much  to  learn  in  school  or 
from  books  on  this  subject.  With  proper  pre- 
paration by  all  the  work  outside  is  simple. 

There  are  a  few  things  that  need  special 
mention: 

In  the  instruction  work  have  a  definite 
situation.  If  the  company  is  to  be  exercised 
as  a  support  take  an  outpost  order  giving  the 
situation  and  general  location  of  the  supports. 
If  any  detachment,  including  the  company, 
is  to  march  beyond  assumed  existing  cover- 
ing detachments,  see  that  it  is  properly 
covered  by  an  advance  guard.  Judgment 
must  be  used  in  this,  the  smaller  the  detach- 
ment the  weaker  relatively  the  cover.  Bear 
in  mind  where  the  other  detachments  are 
marching  and  the  amount  of  cover  they 
afford  to  yours. 

When  starting  out  instruct  the  advance 
where  you  are  going,  then  have  it  go  far 
enough  in  advance  of  that  to  cover  you  while 
you  are  making  your  dispositions  after  you 
have  reached  your  destination. 

From  the  company  down  make  the  dis- 


OUTPOSTS      :;,,.*>     101 .  , 


tribution  of  troops  and  assign.irijmt  of.  ' 
in  an  orderly  manner,  much  as  the  guard  is  Outpost 
divided  up  for  the  post  guard;  do  this  while  training 
the  detachment  is  still  formed. 

Full  information  of  the  situation  should 
be  given  the  men ;  the  proper  performance  of 
their  duty  is  impossible  otherwise.  Each 
subdivision  commander  must  attend  to  this. 
The  captain  should  give  as  much  of  the  neces- 
sary information  as  practicable  to  the  whole 
company,  this  saves  time  for  the  picket  com- 
manders and  will  probably  result  in  the  sit- 
uation being  better  understood. 

Where  the  outpost  line  should  be  located 
and  how  it  should  be  disposed  varies  with  Outpost 
many  conditions.     It  is  a  tactical  problem  ^tbT* 
that  the  officers  must  be  able  to  solve  and  ground 
must  learn  elsewhere  than  on  the  ground  in 
the  few  hours  devoted  to  this  work  in  troop 
training. 

A  little  practice  should  be  held  by  the 
regiment  as  a  whole  in  forming  outpost;  one 
with  the  regiment  as  the  outpost  and  one  with 
the  regiment  as  the  whole  command,  one  bat- 
talion forming  the  advance  guard  on  the 
march.  In  the  latter,  a  halt  order  should  be 
issued  and  outpost  formed  from  the  ad- 
vance guard  battalion;  when  completed  a 


102  :  ...  :TEAINING  INFANTRY 

march  order  should  be  issued  by  which  the 
new  advance  guard  passes  through  the  out- 
post line.  The  outpost  should  then  be 
assembled  and  take  its  place  in  column. 

We  do  this  very  easily  in  map  problems; 
try  it  on  the  ground,  especially  in  rather 
close  country. 

The  mounted  scouts.  While  the  mounted 
Mounted  scouts  have  been  taken  from  the  infantry 
regiment  there  is  still  with  each  regiment  a 
mounted  detachment  of  orderlies.  A  few 
mounted  scouts  well  trained  are  invaluable 
to  an  infantry  regiment  when  operating  alone. 
The  commander  of  an  infantry  regiment, 
if  wise,  will  see  that  these  orderlies  are  trained 
as  scouts  and  then  when  necessary  he  can 
so  use  them.  Their  most  important  and 
frequent  use  will  be  as  the  mounted  point 
and  flank  patrols  for  an  advance  or  rear  guard 
and  for  patrolling  to  the  front  of  an  outpost 
line. 

To  be  of  any  value  they  must  be  well 
instructed  in  these  duties  as  described  under 
advance  guard.  Being  mounted  they  are 
much  more  valuable  than  a  dismounted  patrol 
for  gaining  information  from  the  flanks  and 
getting  it  back  to  the  commander  in  time  to  be 


OUTPOSTS  103 

of  some  use.  These  orderlies  can  be  trained 
in  this  work  without  interfering  materially 
with  their  instruction  in  the  care  of  horses 
and  equipment  and  it  can  be  given  along 
with  instruction  in  horsemanship. 


VII 


MARCHING 

A  BILITY  to  march  under  war  conditions 
-**•  is  of  primary  importance  in  the  train- 
ing of  infantry.  There  is  much  more  march- 
ing than  fighting  in  war  and,  no  matter  how 
well  a  man  may  be  trained  otherwise,  if  he  is 
unable  to  reach  the  field  of  battle  he  is  of 
no  value  as  a  fighting  man. 

That  the  infantry  soldier  may  be  able 

Requi-       to  meet  the  requirements  in  this  respect  he 

marchtn     must  possess  the  necessary  health  and  strength 

he  must  be  properly  shod,  know  how  to  care 

for  himself  on  the  march,  especially  how  to 

take  care  of  his  feet,  and  his  muscles  must  be 

properly  developed.     It  is  also  necessary  that 

the  responsible  officers  know  how  to  conduct 

the  march  and  to  care  for  the  men. 

That  the  man  has  been  allowed  to  en- 
list presumes  the  possession  of  the  necessary 
health  and  strength  and  gives  us  a  man  who 
can  be  trained  to  meet  all  necessary  require- 
ments except  when  temporarily  sick  or  dis- 
abled. 

The  soldier's  shoes  must  be  of  proper 

104 


MARCHING  105 

construction,  well  fitted  to  the  man  and  the 

leather    kept    soft    and    pliable.     The    shoe  Shoes  for 

now  issued  to  our  army  is  good  and  with  marchms 

proper  care  in  fitting  leaves  little  to  be  desired. 

The  fitting  of  the  shoes  is  an  important  duty 

of  the  company  commander  and  should  never 

be  slighted.     The  rules  prescribed  for  this 

should  be  carefully  followed.     Every  captain 

of  infantry  should  have  and  carefully  study 

the  little  book  "The  Soldier's  Foot,"  by  Lieut. 

Colonel  Munson,  Medical  Corps. 

No  matter  how  well  a  shoe  may  be  fitted 
if  it  becomes  soaked  with  water  and  dries, 
without  proper  care,  it  will  become  hard  and 
stiff  and  sore  feet  are  apt  to  result.  The  men's 
shoes  in  campaign  should  be  kept  oiled. 
Neatsfoot  oil  should  always  be  carried  in 
every  company's  baggage  and  officers  should 
see  that  it  is  used  as  needed.  There  should 
also  be  a  supply  of  talcum  or  foot  powder. 

The   socks   are   of   nearly   as  much  im- 
portance as  the  shoes.     They,  too,  must  fit.  Socks  for 
If  too  large  they  wrinkle,  if  too  small  they  marchins 
are  apt  to  bend  and  injure  the  toes;  in  both 
cases  the  result  is  sore  feet.     Woolen  socks 
are   much   better  for   hard   marching   than 
cotton,  they  keep  the  feet  dryer  and  afford 
more  of  a  cushion  and  consequently  better 


106 


TRAINING  INFANTRY 


Care  of 

abrasions 


Protec- 
tion of 
head  and 
neck 


protection  from  injury.  If  the  man  finds 
that  wool  next  his  skin  produces  too  great 
irritation  he  should  wear  woolen  socks  over 
a  pair  of  cotton  or  lisle  thread. 

After  a  day's  march  the  feet  should  be 
washed  and  any  blisters  and  abrasions  should 
receive  proper  attention.  Adhesive  plaster 
should  be  applied  to  all  such,  even  to  spots 
that  are  sore  and  the  skin  not  yet  broken; 
properly  applied  it  is  a  great  protection. 

Rather  than  have  the  men  treat  their  own 
feet  it  is  much  better  that,  after  the  day's 
march  and  camp  has  been  made,  a  reasonable 
time  be  given  the  men  to  wash  their  feet  and 
prepare  for  inspection.  Captains  should  then 
carefully  inspect  the  feet  of  all  their  men  and 
send  every  man  with  the  slightest  injury  to 
the  regimental  infirmary  at  once  and  have 
the  injuries  properly  treated. 

Men  should  be  taught  to  do  this  for  them- 
selves but  as  it  can  be  so  much  more  surely 
and  better  done  as  above  described  the  men 
should  be  permitted  to  do  it  themselves  only 
in  emergencies  where  sanitary  troops  are  not 
available. 

In  marching  in  very  hot  weather  the  men 
must  be  instructed  in  the  importance  of  pro- 
tecting the  back  of  the  neck  from  the  direct 
rays  of  the  sun.  It  would  be  well  if  our  men 


MARCHING  107 

were  issued  a  small  piece  of  cloth  of  suitable 
color  with  some  means  of  readily  attaching  it 
to  the  hat  to  afford  this  protection.  The  *ion,of  . 

head  and 

Japanese  soldiers  used  such  an  attachment  neck 
in  Manchuria  with  good  results. 

There  must  be  an  air  space  between  the 
top  of  the  hat  and  the  man's  head.  The 
hat  must  be  ventilated  and  in  very  hot  weather 
a  wet  sponge  or  cloth  or  green  leaves  should 
be  carried  in  the  hat.  The  shirt  collar,  if  not 
very  loose,  should  be  unbottoned. 

Besides  bathing  the  feet  the  men  should 
bathe  their  whole  bodies  frequently.  Any-  Bathing 
one  familiar  with  our  "regulars"  on  the 
march  and  who  has  seen  them  break  for  the 
water  to  bathe  as  soon  as  possible  after  a  day's 
march  knows  that  it  requires  no  order  to  get 
this  done.  But  sometimes  we  must  camp 
where  there  is  no  water  available  for  bathing. 
Men  should  at  least  wash  the  crotch  with  a  wet 
towel,  especially  if  there  is  a  tendency  to  chafe. 
Talcum  powder  should  be  used  in  such  cases. 

Men  should  be  carefully  taught  the  dis- 
abling effects  of  alcohol  if  drunk  the  night  be-  Drinking 
fore  or  during  a  hard  march,  especially  if  the 
march  be  made  in  hot  weather.  The  men 
must  also  be  instructed  to  care  wisely  for 
their  diet  and  to  avoid  the  excessive  drinking 


108  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

of  water  on  the  march.     Too  little  water  is  as 


Drinking 

All  this  instruction  should  be  carefully 
given  the  men  by  their  company  officers  under 
the  general  supervision  of  the  regimental 
surgeon.  The  surgeon,  with  the  approval  of 
the  colonel,  should  prepare  an  outlined 
Personal  scheme  for  instruction  in  first  aid  and  in  per- 
hygiene  sonaj  hygiene>  having  special  reference  to  the 
soldier's  care  of  himself  in  the  field.  The 
surgeon  should  then  instruct  such  company 
officers  as  have  need  of  the  instruction;  the 
company  officers  then  instruct  the  men.  A 
part  of  the  examination  of  the  company  at  the 
end  of  its  indoor  period  should  be  on  these 
subjects. 

The  muscles  must  be  properly  developed. 
Muscle     jt  is  not  the  strongest  man  who  can  best  stand 

ment°P"  tlie  marcn;  it:  does  not  require  great  physical 
strength.  The  man's  muscles  must  be  flex- 
ible, he  must  be  trained  to  use  them  and  be 
able  to  use  them  without  causing  physical 
pain. 

Marching  as  fully  equipped  infantry  in 
the  ranks  is  a  very  different  proposition  from 
walking  along  the  road  independently,  and 
for  the  private  in  ranks  with  his  load  it  is 
different  from  what  it  is  for  the  officer  with 
his. 


MARCHING  109 

Many  men  of  great  strength  are  often  what 
is  called  "muscle  bound."  Others  have  Muscle 
certain  muscles  overdeveloped  others  under- 
developed.  When  muscles  usually  unused 
are  brought  into  play,  or  when  a  man  is 
forced  into  a  constrained  position,  if  it  be  kept 
up  continuously  ior  some  time,  serious  pain 
and  discomfort  results  and  often  ends  in  a 
physical  break  down. 

A  good  course  in  callisthenics  or  in  gym- 
nasium training  is  the  best  thing  for  the  new 
man.  It  loosens  him  up,  brings  into  play  the 
different  muscles,  renders  them  flexible  and 
gives  the  man  control  of  himself.  Then  prac- 
tice in  marching,  carrying  his  equipment, 
strengthens  the  necessary  muscles  and  ac- 
customs the  man  to  the  necessary  constraint. 

The  training  of  the  company  for  march- 
ing consists,  then,  in  getting  the  men's  March 
muscles  in  proper  condition  by  physical  drill, 
in  theoretical  instruction  as  outlined  above, 
and  actual  practice.  Most  of  the  actual 
practice  is  and  should  be  gained  at  the  regular 
daily  drills  and  exercises.  In  these,  if  they 
are  properly  conducted,  the  man  gets  enough 
preparation. 

Devoting  one  day  each  week  to  a  practice 
march  is  believed  a  mistake.     In  many  of  our  Practice 
posts  a  command  going  out  on  the  roads  can 


110  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

not  leave  them,  there  is  no  chance  for  in- 
Practice  struction  except  very  imperfect  instruction  in 
8  advance  and  rear  guard  work  and  practice  in 
marching. 

The  physical  part,  the  mere  practice  in 
marching  can  be  just  as  well  gained  in  the 
regular  exercises,  and  to  devote  one-fifth  of 
our  field  training  period  to  the  other  instruc- 
tion is  excessive.  It  prevents  some  of  the 
other  necessary  training  being  given  and  it 
ignores  relative  values. 

What  are  wanted  are  men  physically  fit. 
Four  to  six  hours  a  day  of  correct  and  rational 
training  will  make  them  as  much  fit  without 
this  weekly  practice  march  as  with  it  and 
give  more  time,  all  of  which  is  needed,  for 
necessary  work. 

There  should,   however,   be   one   march 

Yearly  every  year  of  from  200  to  300  miles.     This  is 

1  necessary  for  instruction  in  camp  expedients, 

to  train  the  men  to  care  for  themselves  on 

long  marches  and  to  give  them  experience  in 

field  service. 

It  would  be  better  could  it  be  held  late  in 
the  season.  The  command  should  march 
to  come  point  where  they  could  have  ma- 
neuver work  and  training  in  the  larger  units 
and  on  the  ground  more  unfamiliar  than  their 


MARCHING  111 

home  reservation.     But  the   march  should 
be  held,  if  it  be  only  out  and  back. 

Even  with  the  men  well  prepared  much 
of  the  success  of  the  march  depends  on  the  The 
officers.     They  must  understand  how  to  con-  °    cer 
duct  a  march  and  care  for  their  men  and  con- 
scientiously perform  their  duty.     They  must 
try  to  get  the  man's  point  of  view,  think  of 
the  man's  comfort  and  health. 

Every  officer  who  may  be  responsible  for 
the  uniformity  and  rate  of  march  should  care-  Marching 
fully  train  himself  to  take  a  suitable  gait  and  gai 
strictly  maintain  it.     No  one  thing  is  more 
trying  than  an  unsteady  pace  and  many  good 
officers  are  unable  properly  to  lead  a  column  on 
on  the  march  for  this  reason.     The  halts  must  Halts 
be  regulated  to  suit  conditions.     In  very  hot 
weather  or  when  climbing  steep  hills  they 
must  be  more  frequent  than  once  an  hour. 

Discipline  must  be  strict,  no  straggling 
allowed.  Running  to  catch  up,  "backing 
and  filling"  is  productive  of  a  big  sick  report. 

Whenever  conditions  permit  the  intervals 
between  units  should  be  increased,  especially 
when  the  weather  is  hot  and  roads  dusty.  It 
renders  a  steady,  uniform  pace  easier  to 
maintain,  and  thus  tires  the  men  less. 

The  other  rules  for  marches  given  in  our 


112  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

service  regulations  should  be  carefully  ob- 
served. 

Much  of  the  success  of  a  long  march 
The  first  depends  on  the  first  two  or  three  days,  until 
ew  ays  ^  men  ^  ^Q  ^  swing.  Where  practica- 
ble the  first  day's  march  should  be  a  little  less 
than  average,  the  second  a  short  one,  after 
that  our  trained  regulars  can  keep  up  the 
average  march  six  days  a  week.  On  start- 
ing out  it  is  the  second  day's  march  that  is 
the  most  trying  to  the  men.  This  should  be 
borne  in  mind  and  all  practicable  allowances 
made. 

An  excessively  long  march  should  never 
be  made  just  for  practice.  It  does  not  fit  the 
man  for  another  but  the  reverse. 


VIII 

THE  NATIONAL  GUARD 

TN  training  the  infantry  of  the  national  guard 
A  we  have  a  very  different  problem  from 
that  of  the  regular  regiments. 

In  these  regiments  the  same  proportional 
attention  should  be  given  to  those  things  that 
should  be  habits  as  in  training  the  regulars 
and  the  necessity  for  varied  instruction  in 
order  to  keep  the  interest  of  the  men  is  even 
greater. 

My  observation  leads  me  to  believe  that 
the  greatest  weakness  of  many  of  our  na-  Sc<>pe 
tional  guard  captains  lies  in  the  narrow  scope  of  the  m" 

*      struction 

of  the  instruction  given  and  in  its  monotony. 
There  is  a  lack  of  variety  at  each  meeting. 
The  men  lose  interest. 

When  the  recruit  first  joins  the  guard  he 
generally  does  it  for  the  best  of  reasons  and  is 
interested  in  the  work.  But  after  going  to 
the  armory  for  a  few  times  and  drilling  in  a 
few  movements  over  and  over  again  he  loses 
interest,  then  he  cuts  drill  and  possibly  ends 
by  trying  to  get  discharged. 

113 


114  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

There  are  many  things  that  should  be 
taught,  and  you  can  only  hope  for  success  by 
varying  the  work  and  holding  the  interest  of 
your  men.  Do  not  put  more  time  than 
necessary  on  non-essentials. 

Of  course  the  recruit  must  first  be  taught 
Tlie  the  school  of  the  soldier  and  he  must  have  the 
recruit  necessary  instruction  in  close  order  drill. 
But  even  early  in  his  course  there  is  a  chance 
for  variety;  early  in  the  game  give  him  a  rifle 
for  part  of  the  time  and  as  soon  as  he  has  had 
a  little  drill  in  the  manual  of  arms  teach  him 
sighting  and  then  pointing  and  aiming  drill. 
As  soon  as  he  is  far  enough  along  let  him  fire 
a  score  at  gallery  practice  each  drill.  At  first 
devote  the  most  time  to  drill  without  arms 
but  increase  the  time  with  arms  until  all  the 
drills  are  with  arms  and  you  get  him  in  the 
company  for  close  order  drill. 

The  following  should  be  taught  as  care- 
fully as  practicable: 

1.  Target  practice  on  the  range.  If  the 
Essentials  gallery  practice  and  pointing  and  aiming 
drill  recommended  below  be  well  done,  com- 
paratively little  of  this  will  answer.  But  it 
cannot  be  omitted,  every  man  should  have 
some  practice.  Where  possible  some  of  this 
practice  should  be  in  "field  firing."  In  many 


THE  NATIONAL  GUARD  115 

cases  there  is  a  tendency  to  give  known  dis- 
tance firing  an  exaggerated  value  to  the  neglect  Essentials 
of  other  training. 

2.  The  mechanism  of  the  deployments, 
the  advance  by  rushes  even  after  the  line  is 
mixed,  control  of  fire,  and  all  these  directed 
by  signals  only;  verbal  commands  should  not 
be  used. 

3.  Estimating  distance  must  be  taught. 

4.  Pointing  and  aiming  drill  and  gallery 
practice,  so  that  the  man  will  always  bring 
his  piece  up  properly,  look  through  the  sights 
and  pull  the  trigger  only  after  careful  aim, 
must  be  practiced  until  the  necessary  habit 
is  formed. 

5.  There  must  be  frequent  close  order 
drill.     Knowledge  of  this  is  necessary  for  the 
orderly  movement  of  troops  and  it  is  our 
greatest  aid  to  discipline.     But  to  be  an  aid  to 
discipline  it  must  be  exact,  otherwise  it  has  a 
reverse  effect.     It  is  just  as  easy  to  do  it  cor- 
rectly as  to  do  it  approximately  if  you  only 
teach  it  so  at  the  beginning  and  then  give  the 
subject  attention  ever  afterward  and  do  not 
allow  the  drill  to  become  sloppy. 

6.  The   use    of   the   bayonet    must   be 
taught  and  practiced. 

7.  The  men  must  be  taught  simple  in- 


116  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

trenching  and  the  various  uses  of  sand  bags. 
Essentials        g.     First  aid  and  personal  hygiene. 
guard  9.    Patrolling;  especially  the  combat  pa- 

trols and  those  with  advance  and  rear  guards 
and  outposts.  As  many  as  possible  should 
know  how  to  read  a  map. 

10.  The  company  musicians  and  two  or 
three  privates  should  know  the  flag  signalling. 

But  the  captain  may  say:  all  these  are 
practicable  with  the  regulars  who  have  all  the 
time  needed  and  daylight  in  which  to  work  and 
ground  to  work  on;  but  how  are  we  to  do 
these  in  an  armory  at  night? 

Every  armory  should  have  a  place  fixed 
Required  for  gallery  practice  if  it  is  only  a  backing  for 
the  target  against  the  wall  in  one  of  the 
corners.  And  no  company  should  be  without 
a  sand  table;  a  relief  map  is  also  very  desira- 
ble. 

With  this  equipment  let  us  see  what  we 
can  do. 

The  ordinary  drills  of  course  are  on  the 
armory  floor. 

The    principles    of    estimating    distance 
Estimat-  should  be  taught  the  company  and  the  men 
urSe(i  to  Practice  it  f°r  themselves.     Groups 
are  formed  and  go  anywhere  it  is  convenient 
for    this    purpose.     Occasionally,   if  found 


THE  NATIONAL  GUARD  117 

practicable,  the  company  goes  out.  Officers 
and  non-commissioned  officers  in  this  same 
way  should  learn  to  use  the  range  finder. 

Patrolling  can  be  well  taught  on  the  sand 
table  or  relief  map.  Pile  up  your  sand,  form-  Patrolling 
ing  any  desired  terrain;  with  yellow  strings 
mark  the  roads  and  with  blue  ones  the 
streams,  little  bridges,  etc.,  can  be  made  with 
a  jackknife,  houses  represented  by  blocks, 
forests  with  little  pieces  of  evergreen — you 
have  your  outdoors. 

A  scale  must  be  provided  and  one  end  of 
the  table  marked  as  north. 

The  instructor  takes  a  squad  to  the  table 
and  starts  out,  for  instance,  by  stating: 
"Smith,  your  regiment  has  reached  this  point 
(just  off  the  table)  moving  north  in  hostile 
territory.  The  colonel  sends  for  you  and 
gives  you  this  order — 'Corporal,  I  have  heard 
rumors  that  there  is  a  force  of  the  enemy  in 
that  village  northeast  of  here.  I  want  to 
know  whether  that  is  true.  Take  your  squad 
and  move  along  in  the  general  direction  of 
this  main  road,  find  out  and  report.  The 
regiment  will  remain  here  for  several  hours. 
Be  back  here  by  3  P.  M.,  it  is  now  10  o'clock.'  " 
The  instructor  tells  Smith  to  do  just  as  if  he 
were  on  the  ground.  Smith  inspects  his 


118  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

squad,  gives  his  instructions  to  his  men  and 
Patrolling  then  proceeds.  He  can  tell  the  instructor 
his  formation,  and  what  he  does  from  time 
to  time,  or  each  of  the  men,  provided  with 
a  match  and  a  scale,  may  be  required  to  move 
his  own  match.  There  are  many  ways  of 
doing  it.  The  instructor  must  give  informa- 
tion of  the  enemy,  either  orally  or  at  certain 
points  place  lead  soldiers  or  something  to 
represent  the  enemy. 

The  thing  aimed  at  is  to  find  out  how 
Smith  and  the  other  men  would  act  under 
various  conditions,  point  out  their  errors  and 
show  them  how  to  correct  these,  and  give 
the  reasons.  An  infinite  number  of  such 
problems  can  be  devised. 

This  sand  table  is  especially  good  for 
teaching  the  work  of  a  combat  patrol.  Form 
your  field  of  battle  and  along  one  flank  have 
a  varied  terrain  with  houses,  clumps  of  trees, 
little  hills,  etc.  The  instructor  moves  a  light 
rod  along  to  represent  the  firing  line  and  the 
patrol  leader  solves  his  problem.  Whenever 
any  error  is  made  the  movement  stops  until 
the  mistake  is  pointed  out  and  explained. 

In  the  same  way  are  treated  advance  and 

Security  rear  gu?r(is  of  the  strength  of  a  company  and 

a  company  as  advance  or  rear  party.     Out- 


THE  NATIONAL  GUARD  119 

posts  are  established,  the  sentinels  being  rep- 
resented, and  routes  of  the  patrols  selected. 

Entrenching  can  be  taught  by  construct- 
ing trenches  to  scale  on  the  sand  table  terrain. 
I  have  seen  elaborate  field  works  with  bomb 
proofs  constructed  in  this  way  by  the  men  of 
one  company,  but  this  is  not  recommended 
for  any  but  the  officers;  it  is  better  to  limit 
this  work  to  the  simpler  trenches.  With  a 
round  piece  of  stove  wood  for  a  log  and  with  a 
good  jack  knife,  or  better  a  hatchet,  you  can 
make  your  loop  holes  for  the  head  log.  With 
a  lot  of  small  Bull  Durham  tobacco  sacks, 
filled  with  sand,  you  have  your  sand  bags,  the 
varied  uses  of  which  should  be  taught. 

The  officers  should  have  a  war  game  map 
for  their  patrol  problems  and  for  war  games. 

Bayonet  fencing  should  be  practiced  if 
you  have  the  necessary  equipment.  If  not,  Bayonet 
and  a  place  is  available  for  it,  suspend  by  fencmg 
a  rope  something  to  represent  a  man,  a  sack 
full  of  straw  will  do,  so  that  it  can  be  made 
to  swing  through  a  small  angle  back  and 
forth  and  to  right  and  left.  Let  the  men 
practice  the  thrusts,  lunges,  cuts,  etc.,  against 
this,  another  man  giving  the  dummy  a 
motion.  This  should  come  after  training 
in;the  bayonet  exercise. 


120  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

I  would  propose  a  system  something  like 
the  following  for  your  company  drills : 

Recruits  by  themselves  until  they  can  be 
put  in  the  company;  their  work  has  already 
been  discussed. 

After  the  company  is  formed  give  15  or  20 
Essentials  mmutes  of  snappy,  precise  close  order  drill 
drill™  tnen  a  ^ttle  manual  of  arms.  Then  have  the 
company  deploy,  two  or  three  times  at  least, 
from  different  formations.  Then  go  through 
an  attack  formation  the  best  you  can,  all  the 
company  in  the  line,  no  support,  an  advance 
of  40  yards  being  represented  by  one  of  five, 
etc.  Then  try  it  holding  out  a  support 
and  putting  it  in  so  as  to  mix  squads  and 
advance  as  before.  Remember,  no  verbal 
commands,  all  this  to  be  done  by  signals. 

Have  little  posters  on  one  wall  of  your 
armory  at  the  proper  height;  have  a  few 
minutes  pointing  and  aiming  drill,  impressing 
on  the  men  the  importance  of  always  taking 
careful  aim. 

Then   divide   your   company   into  small 

Group  groups.     One  group  at  the  sand  table,  one  re- 

work     ceiving  first  aid  instruction,  another  bayonet 

work,  another  gallery  practice,  etc.  The  group 

at  the  sand  table  may  be  larger  than  the 

others  and  may  stay  there  for  the  rest  of  the 


THE  NATIONAL  GUARD  121 

evening,  the  others  should  change  every  15  or 
20  minutes.     The  sand  table  group  should  Group 
change  each  drill  and  once  during  the  night  work 
if  practicable,  that  is,  if  there  is  time  for  one 
group  to  finish  its  problem  and  give  another 
a  chance  that  same  evening,   it  should  be 
done.     Nearly  all  the  company  should  fire  a 
score  at  the  gallery  every  night. 

If  there  are  a  few  men  in  the  company 
who  are  poor  at  the  manual  of  arms  they  can 
be  put  in  one  group  and  be  given  one  of  their 
turns  in  drill  in  the  manual. 

One  group  may  have  to  be  taught  how 
to  make  the  pack.  Instruction  in  guard  duty 
may  be  necessary  for  another.  Verbal  in- 
struction can  be  given  in  several  subjects  with 
great  advantage  where  a  good  instructor  is 
available;  in  that  case  all  except  the  group 
at  the  sand  table  can  be  assembled. 

The  whole  course  cannot  be  covered  at  one 
drill.  The  captain  should  so  arrange  his 
groups  that  all  in  turn  get  instruction  in  the 
whole  course,  that  all  get  a  variety  each  night, 
that  where  men  have  a  special  deficiency 
it  receives  attention,  that  the  first  part,  the 
essentials  for  the  whole  company,  be  never 
slighted,  and  that  as  many  as  practicable 
of  the  company  get  gallery  practice  at  every 
drill — one  score  will  answer  fully. 


122  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

Owing  to  the  time  it  takes  to  complete  a 
Group  problem  or  task  on  the  sand  table,  often  but 
wor  one  group  can  use  it  in  an  evening.  The 
size  of  the  group  working  should  not,  how- 
ever, be  increased.  Only  small  parties  can  be 
advantageously  instructed.  For  this  reason 
the  sand  table  must  be  worked  to  the  limit 
and  because  of  this  and  the  number  of  things 
to  be  taught  on  it  and  because  some  officers 
are  not  very  expert  in  forming  suitable  terrain 
on  the  sand  table,  it  is  an  advantage  to  have 
the  relief  map  also.  The  latter  can  then  be 
used  for  patrolling  and  work  of  covering 
detachments  and  the  sand  table  for  the  field 
engineering. 

At  most  stations  small  twigs  can  be  col- 
Brush  lected  and  used  to  make  hurdle  revetments, 
wor      fascines  and  gabions  for  use  on  the  sand  table. 
They  can  be  constructed  to  the  reduced  scale 
and  this  brush  work  learned  nearly  as  well  as 
outside  with  normally  sized  faggots. 

Have  the  officer  or  non-commissioned 
officer  best  qualified  give  the  instruction  in 
each  class.  The  instructor  has  much  to  do 
with  success;  some  are  specially  good  at  one 
thing  but  poor  at  another. 

With  such  a  course  of  instruction  well 
given  throughout  the  year  and  with  a  week 


THE  NATIONAL  GUARD  123 

or  ten  days  of  good  camp  work  annually,  and 
suitable  school  work  for  the  officers,  there  is 
no  reason  why  the  national  guard  should  not 
possess  the  efficiency  required  of  it  to  be  a 
valuable  military  asset. 

Sufficient  of  the  callisthenic  or  setting  up 
exercises  for  the  proper  development  of  the  No  callis- 
soldier  should  be  shown  the  recruit  and  the  *  .^l110 

drill 

latter  told  of  the  advantages  of  practicing 
them  for  a  few  minutes  every  morning  or  even- 
ing, or  both.  Tell  him  what  it  will  do  for  his 
health  and  appearance  and  urge  him  to  get 
busy.  There  is  no  use  drilling  these  exercises 
in  the  armory.  A  few  minutes  once  a  week 
or  less  often  will  do  no  good  and  wastes  drill 
time  of  which  the  guard  has  none  to  spare. 

The  detailed  sergeants  should  help  in  all 
drill  work  but  especially  should  be  valuable 
in  teaching  camp  expedients,  care  of  equip- 
ment, etc. 

I  believe  that  in  nearly  every  state  the 
officers  pursue  a  theoretical  course  each  winter 
and  generally  there  is  a  non-commissioned  Use  of 
officers'  school  as  well.     In  the  latter  school  f^008 
there  should  be  thoroughly    taught,  giving  N.  C.  O. 
importance    and    precedence   in    the     order 
stated: 

Infantry  Drill  Regulations, 

Manual  of  Guard  Duty, 


124  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

Small  Arms  Firing  Regulations,  and 
Use  of     parts  of  Field  Engineering. 

schools 

for  Parts  of  the   Field   Service   Regulations 

N.  C.  O.  should  be  read  carefully  in  connection  with 
the  study  of  the  same  subject  in  Infantry 
Drill  Regulations.  If  more  time  is  available 
map  reading  should  be  taught,  and,  if  time 
remains,  then  applied  minor  tactics  on  the 
map.  Attempt  no  more  than  you  can  thor- 
oughly do  in  the  time  available  and  make  the 
course  progressive. 

The  school  for  officers  should  first  cover 
Schools  thoroughly  the  above  course  but  take  more 
of  Field  Service  Regulations  and  include  the 
Manual  of  Courts  Martial.  Map  reading 
should  be  thoroughly  learned  by  all  and  the 
remaining  time  put  on  tactics.  Beginning 
with  minor  tactics  study  some  good  problems 
with  their  solutions,  then  solve  others  to  be 
criticised  by  some  competent  person.  I  have 
found  it  satisfactory  to  use  problems  in  this 
way  in  connection  with  the  drill  regulations. 
Study  a  subject,  for  example  an  advance 
guard,  then  read  a  few  tactical  problems  on  the 
same  subject,  then  try  solving  one,  and  so  on. 
As  you  progress  use  larger  and  larger 
forces.  But  do  not  attempt  the  brigade  until 
you  can  handle  the  regiment  correctly.  Do 


THE  NATIONAL  GUARD  125 

not  cover  too  much  ground  in  one  season  and 
acquire    only    confusion.     Each    term    get  School* 
something  positively  fixed  in  your  mind  so 
that   you   can   use   it;  there   will   be    more 
winters. 

Much  attention  should  be  given  to  acquir- 
ing facility  in  giving  correct  verbal  orders. 

Studying  tactical  problems  correctly 
solved  and  solving  others  for  yourself  is  the 
best  way  to  learn  tactics  after  you  know  the 
principles  laid  down  in  your  manuals.  Be- 
ware of  "normal  form"  solutions,  they  are 
misleading  and  apt  to  be  wrong.  Apply 
general  principles  with  common  sense.  Ad- 
vantage should  be  taken  of  the  officers  de- 
tailed as  inspector-instructors  to  plan  and 
conduct  this  work  as  well  as  to  help  in  the 
instruction  of  the  men.  Only  those  thor- 
oughly competent  for  this  instruction  work 
should  ever  be  detailed  with  the  national 
guard. 

There  should  be  a  camp  of  instruction 
each  year.  If  properly  conducted  this  is  very 
valuable. 

Nearly  all  national  guard  infantry  needs 
training  for  individual  men  and  officers  and  Camps 
work  in  the  company,  battalion  and  regi- 
ment.     When  formed  in  divisions  or  larger 


126  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

forces  for  maneuver  campaigns  the  men  in 

Camps  of  ranks  and  junior  officers   get   but  little   in- 

tion™         struction.     Except  a  little  camp  experience,  it 

is  chiefly  walking,  the  object  of  which  they 

know  nothing,  and  most  of  the  officers  are 

not  yet  ready  for  this  class  of  work.     It  is  a 

camp  of  instruction,  not  a  campaign,  they 

need.     They  must  apply  on  the  ground  what 

they  have  learned  in  the  armory. 

I  believe  the  best  results  can  be  obtained 
from  camps  of  not  more  than  three  regiments 
The  special  needs  of  each  regiment  should 
be  considered  in  forming  the  program.  The 
work  should  be  planned  so  as  to  give  in- 
struction to  each  in  the  most  important  things 
in  which  it  is  deficient.  Special  considera- 
tion should  be  given  to  what  can  not  be  learned 
in  the  armory  and  must  be  done  out  of  doors. 
Most  of  the  program  should  be  made 
up  of  practical  drills  and  exercises  in  which 
all  get  instruction  from  private  to  colonel,  and 
where  their  interest  can  be  held  and  the  best 
instruction  given.  Small  maneuvers  of  com- 
pany, battalion  and  regiment  are  what  are 
needed. 

Tactical  walks  for  officers  and  non-com- 
missioned officers  are  an  excellent  means  of 
instruction — these  supplement  the  other  ex- 
ercises. 


THE  NATIONAL  GUARD  127 

The  big  maneuvers  are  very  largely  for 
general  officers  and  very  little  for  regimental  Camps  of 
officers.     We  need  the  foundation  before  we  "lstruc- 

tion 

build  the  superstructure. 

As  much  ground  should  be  covered  during 
the  camp  as  is  consistent  with  efficient  in- 
struction. No  attempt  should  be  made  to 
cover  the  whole  art  of  war  in  a  week  as  it  only 
results  in  confusion  of  ideas  and  gives  little  or 
no  benefit. 

If  the  law  would  permit  a  few  national 
guardsmen  to  serve  for  short  periods  in  the  Service 
regular  army  it  would  help  greatly  towards  ™lt:ular 
uniformity  of  training  and  improve  the  non-  Com- 
commissioned  personnel  of  the  guard.     These  panics 
men  should  be  allowed  to  so  serve  for  three 
months  during  the  company's  field  training 
period  or  for  one  month  during  the  indoor 
season;  not  more  than  five  should  be  assigned 
to  any  one  company.     They  should  receive 
the  regular's  pay  and  rations  and,  if  joining 
for  the  three  months  period,  one  complete 
service  uniform;   the  one-month  men  should 
bring  their  uniforms  with  them. 

This  privilege  should  be  granted  only  to 
men  who  have  still  one  year  more  to  serve  in 
their  enlistment  in  the  guard  and  who  are 
recommended  by  their  captains.  They 


128  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

should  be  excused  from  post  guard  and  all  fa- 
Service     tigue  duty  and  in  place  of  that  receive  addi- 
tional instruction  work  each  day.     In  order  to 

regular 

com-  obtain  the  most  benefit,  these  men  should 
panics  be  attached  to  those  companies  whose  train- 
ing is  the  best;  in  an  indifferently  trained 
company  they  would  get  some  benefit  but  it 
would  be  little  in  comparison  with  what  they 
would  receive  in  the  other  class. 

This  recommendation  is  made  from  having 
recently  seen  the  results  of  having  a  few  men 
of  the  national  guard  join  an  excellent  regular 
company  for  a  short  period.  These  men  came 
without  pay  and  themselves  paid  their  board 
while  with  the  company. 

There  would  probably  be  no  large  number 
who  would  so  serve,  but  there  are  some  and 
we  are  in  no  condition  in  this  country  to  over- 
look even  small  helps  that  will  contribute  to- 
wards fitting  us  for  war. 

Owing  to  the  small  peace  strength  of  most 
Value  Of  these  regiments  and  the  large  number  of 
recruits  they  must  take  in  on  the  outbreak  of 
war,  their  value  will  depend  on  the  time  they 
will  require  to  be  fit  for  the  field  at  war 
strength.  They  have  the  organization  in 
working  shape.  Their  officers  will,  in  the 
majority  of  regiments,  be  men  who  have  had 


THE  NATIONAL  GUARD  129 

considerable  training.  If  they  will  follow  a 
logical  and  systematic  course  of  training  in  Value 
peace,  the  officers  will  be  familiar  with  it  and  in  war 
will  be  experienced  instructors,  and  all  their 
old  men  will  have  the  instruction  to  a  certain 
degree  so  that  they  can  help  drag  up  the  re- 
cruits. All  this  will  help  to  shorten  the  time 
required  to  fit  them  for  the  field  and  every 
day  thus  cut  off  adds  greatly  to  their  value. 
Without  such  training  their  value  is  small, 
for  no  regiment  should  be  accepted  except  at 
war  strength  and  a  national  guard  regiment 
so  filled  up,  without  experienced  instructors 
who  know  the  course,  will  take  nearly  as  long 
to  become  efficient  as  would  a  new  regiment. 


M 


IX 

INSPECTIONS 

•UGH  can  be  done  to  improve  the  train- 
ing of  our  infantry  by  the  inspections. 
Most  officers  greatly  dislike  to  have  an  ad- 
verse report  made  by  an  inspector  on  their 
commands.  Fear  of  such  a  report  some- 
times works  to  the  detriment  of  sound  train- 
ing and  sometimes  to  its  improvement. 

A  captain  once  asked  why  he  put  so  much 
Influence  time  on  exercises  of  obviously  little  conse- 
(luence  an(*  so  little  time  on  others  more  im- 
portant, replied:  "Blank  will  inspect  this 
year.  He  always  pays  great  attention  to 
such  and  such  an  exercise  and  never  ex- 
amines the  company  in  the  others.  I  want 
a  clean  record  on  this  inspection/' 

We  have  all  been  influenced  as  was  this 
captain.  Even  if  we  do  not  care  personally, 
loyalty  to  our  colonel  or  to  the  post  com- 
mander leads  us  to  consider  what  the  in- 
spector will  require. 

The  author  has  no  intention  of  criticizing 
adversely  the   Inspector   General's  Depart- 
ment; its    inspections    have    steadily    im- 
130 


INSPECTIONS  181 

proved  in  recent  years  and   become   more 
rational  and   consequently  more   beneficial.   Influence 
His  aim  is  rather  to  point  out  the  place  of  the  ^f0™pe< 
inspections   in   the   year's   training   and    to 
suggest  how,  in  connection  with  the  methods 
of  training  proposed,  they  may  be  made  both 
searching  and  helpful  toward  real  proficiency. 

In  the  annual  inspection  it  is  evident 
that  in  the  time  available  the  inspector  can-  The 
not  examine  an  organization  in  everything  f 
it  should    know;   he    must    choose    certain  ti<m 
things  and  judge  from  those  of  the  training 
of  the  company  or  regiment. 

In  making  this  choice  the  relative  im- 
portance of  the  subjects  must  be  kept  in 
mind.  Of  course  every  company  must  be 
tried  out  in  the  combat  exercises  and  in  all 
the  things  that  should  be  made  fixed  habits. 
It  is  of  equal  importance  that  no  stress  be 
laid  on  non-essentials.  For  the  rest,  he 
should  select  certain  important  things  which 
every  company  should  know  and  inspect  it 
thoroughly  as  to  its  proficiency  in  those, 
examining  the  various  companies  at  a  post  in 
different  subjects  so  that  a  captain  would  feel 
that  anything  in  the  whole  course  might  fall 
to  his  lot  from  properly  making  the  pack  to 
establishing  an  outpost  at  night. 


132 


TRAINING  INFANTRY 


The 
annual 
inspec- 
tion 


Company 
examina- 
tion 


Battalion 
examina- 
tion 


The  inspector  should  make  free  use  of  the 
war  game  map,  tactical  walks  and  every 
other  recognized  means  of  instruction  to  find 
out  how  well  the  officers  and  men  of  the 
regiment  are  instructed  and  what  class  of 
work  each  organization  is  doing. 

In  order  to  be  fair  to  the  organizations 
inspected  the  annual  inspection  should  be 
made  late  in  the  season.  It  should  never  be 
made  before  the  officers  have  had  a  fair  show 
to  instruct  their  commands. 

The  above  inspection  by  an  officer  of  the 
Inspector  General's  Department  should  not, 
however,  be  the  only  one.  At  the  close  of 
each  period  of  training  there  should  be  an  ex- 
amination of  the  organizations  on  the  work 
they  are  supposed  to  have  done.  The  last  of 
March  or  first  of  April  the  field  officers  of  the 
regiment,  as  a  board,  should  examine  the 
companies  on  the  results  of  their  winter's 
work;  a  similar  examination  should  be  made 
at  the  close  of  the  period  of  company  field 
training.  When  the  battalions  have  finished 
their  period  of  field  training  the  colonel  and 
lieutenant  colonel  should  form  the  board  to 
examine  them.  If  the  brigade  commander 
be  thoroughly  posted  on  all  matters  pertaining 
to  infantry  training  his  presence  at  the  ex- 


INSPECTIONS  133 

aminations  and  careful  supervision  of  the 
work  cannot  fail  to  be  very  beneficial.  His 
supervision  should  not,  however,  lead  to  re- 
striction of  the  proper  latitude  which  should 
be  allowed  subordinates;  his  mission  should 
be  to  see  that  the  instruction  given  is  correct 
and  that  the  whole  course  has  been  satis- 
factorily covered. 

The  same  general  principles  apply  to  the 
inspection  of  national  guard  organizations.  National 
If  anything  is  found  wrong  with  them  the  .guard 

inspec- 

mspector  should  not  keep  silent  at  the  time  tion 
and  content  himself  with  rendering  later  an 
adverse  written  report;  he  should  tell  the 
officer  being  inspected  what  is  wrong  and  take 
pains  to  show  him  how  to  correct  the  error. 
A  helping  hand,  offered  in  the  right  spirit, 
will  always  be  appreciated. 


X 


TRAINING   A   NEW    REGIMENT 

IN  this  country  we  are  liable  to  have  the 
necessity  forced  upon  us  of  turning  out 
trainin  tro°Ps  in  tne  shortest  possible  time.  We 
shall  have  to  use  troops  not  fully  trained ;  we 
shall  have  to  employ  them  as  soon  as  they 
can  be  used  at  all.  Of  course  this  system  will 
be  frightfully  costly  in  blood  and  money.  In 
war  imperfectly  trained  troops  must  pay  with 
their  lives  for  all  mistakes.  The  better 
trained  they  are,  the  fewer  mistakes,  the 
more  skill  they  possess  the  more  cheaply  can 
any  desired  result  be  obtained. 

It  is  the  duty  of  all  officers  who  may  be 
charged  with  the  responsibility  of  preparing 
this  mass  of  untrained  men  for  war  service 
to  give  the  subject  careful  thought,  to  study 
the  question  carefully  and  to  be  prepared  on 
short  notice  to  take  charge  of  such  work  and 
produce  the  best  results  possible  in  the 
shortest  time. 

Success  in  this  hurried  training  can  only 
be  secured  if  the  man  in  charge  thoroughly 

134 


A  NEW  REGIMENT  135 

appreciates  his  task  and  follows  out  a  well  pre- 
pared and  systematic  course. 

There  are  three  phases  of  the  problem: 
Our  regular  regiments  must  be  raised  from  a 
strength  of  about  65  men  per  company  to 
nearly  150.  The  national  guard  regiments, 
less  well  prepared,  will  have,  as  a  rule,  to 
stand  a  still  greater  increase  of  new  men,  and 
there  will  be  hundreds  of  entirely  new  regi- 
ments to  be  raised. 

In  outlining  or  suggesting  a  possible  course 
to  be  pursued  in  such  cases  let  us  take  the  new  The  com- 
regiment.  The  regiment  must  first  be  en-  ' 
listed,  organized  and  equipped.  This  first 
step  will  not  be  considered  further  than  to  say 
that  in  its  organization  it  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary that  its  commander  be  an  active,  com- 
petent officer,  one  who  can  train  it  and 
prepare  it  for  its  work.  In  no  other  way  can 
the  regiment  be  prepared  to  do  anything 
within  a  reasonable  time. 

To  appoint  an  incompetent  commander 
to  such  a  regiment  would  cost  many  lives, 
would  be  a  crime  closely  resembling  murder 
in  the  second  degree. 

An  effort  should  be  made  in  every  new 
regiment  to  have  a  reasonable  number  of 
subordinates  competent  to  act  as  instructors. 


136  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

Under  modern  conditions  there  is  a  mini- 
General      mum  amount  of  training  that  is  absolutely 
pjin         *  necessary  before  an  organization,  can  be  put 
training      in  the  field.     The  number  of  men  lost  to 
an  organization  from  disease  depends  on  how 
well  the  men  are  trained  in  caring  for  them- 
selves and  how  well  the  officers  do  their  part. 

Time  is  the  all  important  element;  we 
must  have  these  organizations  in  such  shape 
that  they  can  be  used  as  quickly  as  possible 
and  be  as  nearly  good  as  possible.  Of  course 
they  will  constantly  improve  in  the  field  and 
become  excellent,  but  they  will  have  to  be 
used  before  that  state  is  reached.  The  oc- 
casion for  organizing  such  regiments  will  only 
arise  in  case  of  great  national  danger,  when 
the  utmost  can  be  demanded  of  all.  Hours 
of  work  should  then  be  all  that  can  be  pro- 
fitably employed.  Most  of  the  recruits  will 
be  men  accustomed  to  at  least  eight  hours 
work  a  day. 

All  that  has  been  said  previously  as  to 
variety  in  the  work,  keeping  up  the  men's 
interest,  explaining  and  giving  the  reasons 
for  things  done,  applies  even  more  to  a  new 
volunteer  regiment  than  to  our  regular 
companies.  Essentials  only  must  be  taught 
at  first,  bearing  in  mind  that  discipline  is  most 


A  NEW  REGIMENT  137 

essential  and  the  use  that  can  be  made  of 
close  order  drill  in  obtaining  it.     Those  things  General 
that  should  be  a  habit  must  be  drilled  care-  PJinciPles 
fully  and  frequently.     Other  essentials  may  training 
be  hurried  through  for  the  first  time,  to  give 
the  men  the  best  general  idea  possible  in  the 
shortest  time,  and  then  repeated  and  perfected 
as  time  and  opportunity  offer. 

As  a  rule  our  men  will  be  intelligent  and 
quick  to  learn.  Every  little  taught  them,  if 
they  have  understood  the  reason  for  it,  will 
help  them  to  do  what  is  required  even  if  their 
instruction  is  not  complete.  With  such 
volunteers  much  instruction  should  be  given 
not  as  a  drill  but  as  a  sort  of  lecture  or  talk. 
The  average  American  works  better  when  he 
knows  the  why  and  the  wherefore.  Remem- 
ber how  different  are  his  new  life  and  sur- 
roundings from  what  he  is  accustomed  to 
and  how  very  little  the  average  American 
knows  of  an  army  and  how  much  of  that  little 
is  not  so. 

In  submitting  a  proposed  schedule  of  train- 
ing it  is  fully  appreciated  that  conditions  will 
vary  greatly  and  any  schedule  must  be  suited 
to  conditions  as  they  exist;  it  is  doubtful  if 
the  one  here  proposed  would  ever  exactly  fit. 
It  is  only  offered  as  a  possible  help. 


188  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

It  is  assumed  that  the  colonel  is  thoroughly 
competent  and  that  there  are  several  men  in 
the  command  with  some  military  training, 
such  as  ex-regulars  and  national  guardsmen 
and  those  who  have  had  training  in  a  college 
battalion.  This  latter  assumption  is  a  safe 
one  in  this  country. 

It  is  very  probable  that  every  company 
will  have  a  cook  that  enlisted  as  such  and 
knows  something  of  the  art.  But  handling 
the  ration  and  army  cooking  have  features 
that  are  different  from  what  he  is  used  to  un- 
less he  has  been  trained  in  the  army.  The 
company  kitchen  must  be  correctly  run  or 
training  will  be  difficult.  Discontent  and 
a  big  sick  report  are  fatal  to  success. 

The  first  thing,  then,  is  to  instruct  the 
cooks  and  mess  sergeants.  Some  one  must 
be  found  competent  to  do  this  and  he  must 
look  after  the  kitchens,  correct  mistakes  and 
give  instruction  until  they  are  all  running 
properly.  The  new  captains  must  learn 
how  to  look  after  this  work  properly  if  they  do 
not  already  know.  If  the  colonel  can  find 
nobody  else  to  do  it  he  must  do  it  himself.  It 
must  be  done.  It  is  a  very  important  part 
of  the  foundation  upon  which  success  must 
be  built. 


A  NEW  REGIMENT  139 

The  necessary  records  and  papers  should 
be  properly  kept  and  made,  both  at  regi- 
mental  headquarters  and  in  the  orderly  room.  work 
This  is  important  but  not  so  much  so  as  the 
kitchens.  The  mistakes  in  paper  work  only 
cause  annoyance  and  confusion  off  the  battle- 
field and  possibly  will  lose  somebody  some 
money;  but  the  other  causes  loss  of  life  and 
prevents  efficiency.  This  work  should  be 
properly  taught.  Some  competent  non- 
commissioned officers  or  officer  should  be 
given  the  task  of  instructing  the  clerks  and 
first  sergeants.  It  is  not  difficult,  at  least  the 
essential  parts,  and  it  should  be  promptly  at- 
tended to  upon  organization  but  so  as  in  no 
way  to  interfere  with  training.  An  ex- 
regular  sergeant  major,  first  sergeant  or  clerk 
would  be  very  valuable  here.  So  far  as  pos- 
sible such  a  man  should  be  made  adjutant 
of  every  new  regiment  of  volunteers.  His 
value  as  an  instructor  in  many  things  would 
be  great  and  he  would  save  the  colonel  much 
trouble  and  annoyance. 

From  the  first  day  of  training  the  band 
should  be  turned  over  to  the  surgeons  for  Band 
thorough  instruction   as   auxiliary   sanitary 
troops.    At  least  two  hours  a  day  should 
be  devoted  to  this  work  until  they  become 


140  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

proficient,  after  which,  an  hour  or  two  a  week, 
to  keep  them  so. 

The  band  must  also  receive  the  necessary 
Band  fam  so  that  it  can  be  maneuvered  as  such. 
Callisthenic  drill,  practice  in  marching,  care 
of  themselves  in  the  field,  individual  cooking, 
and  tent  pitching  must  be  taught.  Three 
hours  daily  should  be  devoted  to  this  in- 
struction until  satisfactory  results  are  ob- 
tained, after  which  only  occasional  drills  are 
necessary.  This  may  interfere  somewhat 
with  their  music,  but  that  can  wait. 

The  regimental  surgeon  must  also  care- 
Surgeon  fully  train  his  detachment.     His  officers  must 
not  only  be  doctors  but  medical  officers;  his 
men  must  be  trained  for  field  service  as  well 
as  for  hospital  attendants. 

The  training  of  the  machine  gun  company 
Machine  an(j  mounted  detachment  must  begin  from 

the  start  and  follow  generally  the  lines  pro- 
company  iit  •  m  * 

posed  below  for  the  companies.  More  at- 
tention must  be  paid  to  their  tactical  in- 
struction than  even  to  that  of  company  com- 
manders. They  must  know  their  function 
Mounted  anc[  how  to  do  their  part.  The  instruction  of 
these  men  as  to  field  service,  care  of  them- 
selves, callisthenics,  cooking,  etc.,  must  be 
the  same  as  in  the  company.  They  must  be 


A  NEW  REGIMENT  141 

taught  how  to  care  for  the  animals  and  in  the 
case  of  orderlies  how  to  ride  and  to  scout. 

The  company  musicians  will  receive  the 
following  instruction  with  their  companies:  Musi- 
callisthenics,  first  aid  and  personal  hygiene, 
individual  cooking,  tent  pitching  and  rifle 
firing.  They  make  all  practice  marches  with 
their  companies.  They  will  be  grouped  by 
battalion  and  given  at  least  one  hour  a  day 
of  instruction  in  signalling,  and  the  musicians 
of  the  regiment  assembled  under  the  drum 
major  for  instruction  in  the  necessary  march- 
ing and  maneuvering  and  practice  with  their 
instruments.  They  should  work  about  the 
same  number  of  hours  per  day  as  the  other 
men. 

Those  armed  with  a  revolver  must  be  in- 
structed in  its  mechanism  and  care,  and  firing 
practice  frequently  held. 

In  the  proposed  schedule  given  below  for 
the  companies  an  effort  is  made  to  provide  Callis- 
for  the  necessary  muscular  development  re- 
f erred  to  before.  The  amount  of  this  drill  is 
not  as  great  as  desirable  but  as  the  men  pro- 
gress bayonet  exercise  and  pointing  and 
aiming  drill  answer  fairly  well  to  supplement 
this  work.  Some  will  object  to  any  eallis- 
thenic  drill,  under  the  assumed  conditions, 


142 


TRAINING  INFANTRY 


Instruc- 
tors and 
drill 

masters 


as  a  waste  of  time.  They  are  wrong — it  will 
save  time  in  the  end,  keep  down  the  sick  re- 
port and  give  better  results. 

The  colonel  should  carefully  inventory 
his  command  for  instructors  and  drill  masters. 
In  the  early  stages  when  divided  into  small 
groups  many  are  required;  fortunately  but 
little  military  training  is  necessary  for  this 
preliminary  work. 

Owing  to  shortage  of  good  drill  masters 
groups  for  this  preliminary  v/ork  will  have  to 
be  larger  than  is  customary  in  peace  time  in 
the  regular  service,  not  less  than  eight  men 
to  a  group  from  the  start,  and  these  should 
be  combined  into  groups  of  two  squads  each 
then  into  platoons,  as  soon  as  their  work  per- 
mits. The  best  instructors  should  be  kept  as 
drill  masters  after  each  consolidation. 

For  the  callisthenic  drills  from  the  very 
start  the  men  can  be  combined  into  large 
groups  and  instructors  found  who  are  already 
competent  to  drill  their  squads  in  the  school 
of  the  soldier.  The  other  squad  commanders 
who  are  imperfectly  prepared  must  be  as- 
sembled at  this  time  for  drill  and  instruction 
under  the  best  officers  and  non-commissioned 
officers  in  the  regiment.  They  will  be  care- 
fully taught  the  next  movements  to  be  given 


A  NEW  REGIMENT  143 

to  the  men  and  how  to  teach  them  to  their 

Squads.  Instruc-" 

tors  and 

As  these  squad  leaders  are  selected  as  far  as  drin 
possible  from  those  having  had   some   mili-  masters 
tary  training  and  the  others  from  the  brightest 
and  most  intelligent  men,  it  is  believed  possi- 
ble for  them  to  keep  ahead  of  their  squads.     It 
becomes  easier  as  the  groups  grow  larger  and 
fewer  instructors  are  required. 

The  drill  will  be  given  to  the  officers  who 
do  not  know  it.  The  officers  being  formed 
into  a  squad  by  themselves. 

All  trained  officers  must  be  on  the  drill 
ground  during  all  these  drills  by  squad,  super- 
vise the  work,  correct  mistakes  and  help  out 
the  poorer  instructors.  The  other  officers 
not  acting  as  instructors  should  be  required  to 
attend  about  half  to  learn  from  seeing  it  done, 
the  other  half  of  this  time  they  should  be  re- 
quired to  be  drilled  themselves  and  to  study 
the  drill  regulations.  There  should  be  no 
hesitation  in  having  lieutenants  drill  squads 
during  this  period  provided  they  are  better 
at  it  than  some  of  the  enlisted  men  and  are 
not  needed  to  supervise  the  work  of  several 
squads. 

There  should  be  an  officers'  school  every 
evening  except  Saturdays  and  Sundays. 


144  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

This  should  be  conducted  by  the  colonel  him- 
Officers'  self.  The  first  subject  taken  up  being  the 
drill  regulations.  Lessons  should  be  short  as 
well  as  the  sessions  of  the  class  and  the  work 
thoroughly  done.  The  student  officer  must 
learn  the  text  and  the  instructor  fully  explain 
it  where  necessary.  Much  explanation  will  be 
required  in  Part  II. 

The  class  must  keep  well  ahead  of  the  out- 
door work. 

Besides  the  Infantry  Drill  Regulations,  in 
this  school  must  be  taught  early  in  the  course, 
parts  of  the  Guard  Manual  and  Small  Arms 
Firing  Manual.  The  essential  parts  of  the 
Field  Engineering  will  be  taught,  and,  those 
not  proficient  therein,  how  to  read  military 
maps.  Lastly  take  up  the  Manual  of  Courts 
Martial. 

The  more  important  parts  of  Army  Regu- 
lations should  be  included  in  the  above  course. 
Better  results  will  be  obtained  if  the  lesson 
each  day  includes  two  or  three  selected  para- 
graphs from  this  book  than  by  taking  it  up  as  a 
whole  and  by  itself.  In  its  use  this  is  largely 
a  book  of  reference.  In  this  proposed  way 
the  officers  become  familiar  with  it  and  how 
to  use  it  and  the  relatively  few  paragraphs 
they  must  positively  know  are  learned. 


A  NEW  REGIMENT  145 

If,  beside  the  colonel,  the  regiment  has 
three  or  more  thoroughly  competent  officers,   N- c-  °- 
the  colonel  will  not  require  the  others  to  s 
attend  officers'  school  but  will  order  schools 
for   non-commissioned    officers    with    these 
others  as  instructors.     The  classes  should  not 
be  larger  than  one  composed  of  all  the  non- 
commissioned officers  of  a  battalion  and,  if 
instructors  are  available,  those  of  only  two  or 
three  companies  should  form  a  class. 

The  work  of  this  class  will  be  largely  con- 
fined to  Infantry  Drill  Regulations.  First  the 
drill  then  combat  and  covering  detachments 
must  be  fully  explained  and  the  principles  of 
patrolling  taught.  If  time  is  available  these 
schools  will  also  take  up  other  subjects  taught 
in  our  regular  indoor  course.  Care  must  be 
taken  not  to  give  the  men  more  in  one  lesson 
than  they  can  learn. 

If  there  be  one,  and  less  than  three,  com- 
petent instructors  for  these  non-commissioned 
officers,  a  class  will  be  formed  in  each  battalion 
and  only  two  sessions  held  weekly  for  each, 
the  instructor  taking  them  in  turn.  Lessons 
in  this  case  may  be  longer  but  the  work  can- 
not be  so  well  done. 

If  there  be  no  one  available  except  the 
colonel,  each  captain  will  be  required  to  have 


146  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

a  school  in  his  company  at  the  most  con- 
N.  C.  O.  venient  hour  and  try  to  transmit  to  the  men 
schools  what  he  hag  iearne^  m  tne  officers'  school. 

The  following  instruction  should  be  given 
by  demonstration  or  by  talks  given  to  the 
men  assembled  and  sitting. 

Part  of  it  will  be  given  by  battalion,  part 
Talks  and  by  company,  2  and  4  should  be  given  by  squad 
or  platoon,  the  leaders  having  first  been  in- 
structed. In  the  schedule  this  instruction  is 
designated  by  the  word  "verbal".  Its  value 
will  depend  on  the  instructor. 

List  of  subjects  for  instruction  by  talks 
and  demonstrations: 

1.  General    duties    of    a    soldier.     His 
relation  to  his  officers.     System  of  discipline. 
Military  courtesy.    Customs  of  service  as  they 
relate  to  him.    An  outline  of  organization. 
Encourage  the  class  to  ask  questions  on  the 
subject  in  hand  and  kindred  subjects  and  then 
answer  them. 

2.  The  rifle,  its  mechanism  and  care  and 
how  to  clean  it. 

3 .  Care  of  the  other  equipment,  especially 
that  of  leather. 

4.  How  to  make  the  pack  and  adjust  it. 


A  NEW  REGIMENT  147 

5.  Duties  of  a  sentinel  on  the  interior 

guard.     Sentinels'   orders.  Talks  and 

demon- 

6.  The  most  essential  parts  of  the  course  strations 
in  personal  hygiene  and  first  aid. 

7.  Importance  and  necessity  of  fire  con- 
trol and  distribution. 

8.  Instruction  as  to  artillery  with  a  view 
to  diminish  unreasonable  fear  of  its  fire. 

9.  Principles  of  patrolling. 

10.  Objects  of  advance  and  rear  guards 
and  outposts. 

11.  Duties  of  a  sentinel  on  outpost  and 
conduct  of  visiting  patrols. 

12.  If  time  is  available  give  more  in- 
struction under  6. 

Most  of  this  is  only  preliminary  to  ex- 
planations and  instruction  the  men  will  get  in 
their  drills.  It  is  a  start,  and  at  the  beginning 
of  his  training  will  help  to  arouse  interest  and 
gives  some  variety  at  the  time  when,  in  the 
regular  drills,  but  little  variety  is  possible 
and  the  drills  are  least  interesting.  A  good 
instructor  will  make  this  pay. 

It  is  assumed  in  this  schedule  that  the 
season  is  between  May  and  October.  Work 
beginning  on  a  Monday. 


148  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

Reveille  at  6  A.  M.  Breakfast  immediately 
after.  Necessary  police  between  that  and  7 
A.  M.  No  drill  Saturday  afternoon  except 
one  hour  for  instructors;  none  on  Sunday. 

PROPOSED  SCHEDULE 

1st,  2d  and  3d  Days. 

A.  M. 

l«t  week    6_30  to  7-45     Drill    for     instructors     and 

officers  only. 

7  to  7-30    Callisthenics. 

8  to  8-45     School  of   the  soldier  with- 

out arms. 

9  to    9-45     Same. 

10       to  10-30     Callisthenics. 

10  to  10-45     Drill  for  officers  and  instruc- 

tors. 

11  to  11-45    Verbal. 

P.  M. 

1  to  1-45      School  of  the  soldier  with- 

out arms. 

2  to    2-45     Same. 

3  to    3-45     Same. 

4  to    4-30     Callisthenics. 

4  to  5-00  Drill  for  officers  and  in- 
structors. 

7  School  j:o  last  from  J/£  to  % 

of  an  hour  at  first,  later  the 
time  to  be  extended. 


A  NEW  REGIMENT  149 

4th  and  5th  Days  and  Morning  of  the  6th 

Day.  lst  week 

The  same  as  above  except  that  the  drill 
from  9  to  9-45  A.  M.  and  2  to  2-45  P.  M.  will  be 
in  the  manual  of  arms. 

Some  camp  guards  will  probably  be  neces- 
sary. This  should  be  done  by  platoon  and 
this  time  on  guard  used  to  the  utmost  to  teach 
this  duty. 

2d  Week. — During  this  week  drills  will  be 
in  the  school  of  the  soldier  without  and  with  2d  wcek 
arms,  the  proportion  with  arms  steadily  in- 
creasing. 

Commencing  Thursday  one-half  hour  each 
half-day  will  be  pointing  and  aiming  drill. 

A.  M. 

6-30  to    7-45  Drill    for    officers    and    in- 
structors. 

7-00  to    7-30  Callisthenics. 

8-00  to    9-15  Drill— school  of  the  soldier. 

9-30  to  10-15  Verbal. 

10-30  to  11-45  Drill. 

P.  M. 

1-00  to    2-00     Drill  for  officers  and  in- 
structors. 

1-30  to    2-00    Callisthenics. 
2-15  to    3-45     Drill. 
4-00  to    4-30     Callisthenics. 


150  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

4-00  to    5-00     Drill    for    officers    and    in- 
structors. 
7-00  School. 

3d  Week. — Squads  combined  in  pairs. 
3d  week  Drill  will  be  with  arms.  Part  of  each  drill 
will  be  pointing  and  aiming  drill  and  extended 
order,  close  order  work  being  continued. 
Beginning  Thursday  an  aggregate  of  half  an 
hour  daily  will  be  given  to  bayonet  exercise. 
The  drill  must  be  varied,  change  made  every 
15  or  20  minutes. 

A.  M. 

7-00  to    7-30  Callisthenics. 

6-30  to    7-45  Drill  for  officers. 

8-00  to  10-45  Drill. 

11-00  to  11-45  Verbal. 

P.  M. 

1-00  to  3-45      Drill. 

4-00  to  5-00      Monday  and  Wednesday — 
estimating  distance. 
Tuesday   and    Thursday — 
intrenching,  using  the  small 
tools. 

Friday  —  Instruction    in 
guard  duty  by  company. 
7-00  School. 

4th  Week. — Squads  are  combined  into  full 
4th  week    platoons.     Five  or  six  men  are  selected  from 


A  NEW  REGIMENT 


151 


each  company  to  form  the  signal  detachment 
of  the  company.  These  men  are  required  to 
do  at  least  one  hour's  work  a  day  at  this  from 
now  on  until  thoroughly  proficient,  and  ex- 
cused from  a  corresponding  amount  of  other 
work,  preferably  police  and  close  order  in  the 
afternoon. 

A.  M.  Each  drill  to  be  divided  approxi- 

7  to  11      mately  as  to  time  as  follows: 
DRILL      30  minutes  pointing  and  aiming 
drill. 

20  minutes  bayonet  exercise. 
1  hour  close  order  drill. 
Remainder  of  time  extended  order 
drill. 

11  to  12  All  non-commissioned  officers 
have  gallery  practice  and  instruc- 
tion in  use  of  range  finder. 

p.  M.      The  best  officers  of  the  company 
1  to  4    for    the     work     take     one-half 
DRILL    the     non-commissioned     officers 
of  the  company  for  work  in  pa- 
trolling.    The  two  sections  alter- 
nate as  to  days.     Remainder  of 
company    will    be    divided    into 
groups.     All    must  have   gallery 
practice  at  least  5  shots  per  man 


4th  week 


152  TRAINING  INFANTRY. 

p.  M.  daily.  Only  one  group  at  target 
4th  week  1  to  4  at  a  time. 

DRILL  Each  group  to  have  estimating 
distance  twice  during  week.  Each 
group  to  have  individual  cooking 
twice. 

Each  group  to  have  one  hour's  in- 
struction during  week  in  first  aid 
and  care  of  feet  on  a  march. 
All  to  be  taught  to  form  for  and 
pitch  shelter  tent  camp. 
If  the  necessary  masks  and  plas- 
trons are  available  practice  in  bay- 
onet fencing  at  least  three  times 
during  week  for  each  group .  If  no 
fencing  rifles  are  available,  poles 
the  length  of  the  rifle  and  bayonet, 
with  a  good  pad  fastened  on  the 
end,  answer  the  purpose.  If 
masks  are  not  available  bayonet 
exercise  and  close  order  drill  will 
fill  up  the  rest  of  the  time. 
In  arranging  this  work  the  best 
man  for  it  should  be  put  in  charge 
of  each  class  of  work. 

4  to  —  Company  formed  with  full  kit, 
except  rations  and  ammunition, 
and  marched  first  day  about 


A  NEW  REGIMENT  153 

twenty  minutes,  lengthening  the 
time  each  day  by  10  minutes. 
7  P.  M.       School. 

5th  Week. 

A.  M. 

7  to  11       Drill  same  as  last  week. 
11  to  12       Same  as  last  week.  5th 

Gallery  practice  same  as  last  week. 
Patrolling  same  as  last  week. 
First  aid,  same  as  last  week. 
Estimating  distance,  once  during 
week. 

Bayonet  fencing  or  exercise  for  at 
least  one  hour  during  the  week, 
p.  M. 

1  to  4  Each  platoon  to  be  posted  as  a 
picket  of  an  imaginary  outpost 
line  and  men  instructed  twice 
during  week. 

Each  squad  as  above  once  as  a 
sentry  squad. 

A  wall  prepared  and  men  given  in- 
struction in  scaling  it. 
Any  time  left  over  to  be  used  as 
thought  best. 

4  to  5  March  with  pack  as  before,  giv- 
ing instruction  in  advance  and 
rear  guard. 

7  School. 


154 


TRAINING  INFANTRY 


6th  week 

company 


6th  Week  —  Company. 
A.  M.      One  hour  close  order,  remainder 
7  to  11       extended  order  drill. 

DRILL    Much  practice  in  attack  as  ex- 
plained in  Chapter  IV. 
11  to  12      Same  as  last  week. 

p.  M.      Gallery   practice    as    last    week, 
1  to    4       except  on  Friday. 

Friday  whole  company  as  support 
of  an  outpost,  sentinels  and  pa- 
trols  carefully  instructed. 
Each    non-commissioned    officer, 
twice  during  week,  to  conduct  a 
patrol,   instructing  privates. 
Bayonet  fencing  and  wall  scaling 
as  last  week. 

Estimating  distance  as  last  week. 
Remainder  of  time  teaching  men 
brush  work,  hurdle  revetment, 
fascines,  etc. 

4  to    5      Same  as  last  week. 
7  School. 

Saturday,  formal  inspection  by 
company. 

7th  Week  —  The  Company. 
A.  M.      As   last   week   except   that  time 
7  to  11    given  to  close  order  may  be  re- 
DRILL     duced  to  15  minutes  daily. 


A  NEW  REGIMENT  155 

7  to  11      At  least  two  days  must  be  given 
DRILL      to  maneuver  of  company  against  7th  week 

Company.  company 

All  the  men  must  fire  20  shots  dur- 
ing the  week  at  gallery  practice  at 
such  times  as  found  practicable 
without  interfering  with  the  pre- 
scribed program. 

p.  M.      Monday.    Outpost,  company  as  a 
1  to    5      support. 

Friday.  Practice  march  with  in- 
struction in  patrolling,  advance 
and  rear  guard,  and  attack  and 
defense,  either  one  company  to 
work  against  another  or  enemy 
to  be  outlined. 

Estimating  distance  drill  while 
out.  Men  must  not  march  more 
than  10  miles  nor  less  than  6. 
Packs  will  be  carried. 
Tuesday,  Wednesday  and  Thurs- 
day. 

1  to  3-30  Patrolling  at  least  once  during 
week  by  each  non-commissioned 
officer  as  leader. 

Remainder  of  time  to  brush  work, 
filling  and  piling  sand  bags,  mak- 
ing loopholes  and  intrenching. 


156  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

p.  M.       Drill  in  dark  as  training  for  night 
9  to  10     work. 

School  as  last  week. 
Saturday,   formal  inspection   by 
company. 

8th  Week—  Battalion. 
8th  week          A.  M.      Drill   by   Battalion.     Not   more 

battalion          ?  t()  n      than  one  hom>  Qf 


should  be  devoted  to  close  order. 

Gallery   practice,    same    as    last 

week. 

P.  M.      Tuesday  and  Thursday. 
1  to    5     March  and  instruction   by   bat- 

talion similar  to  that  by  company 

last    week.      Distance    marched 

about  10  miles. 

Monday. 
1  to    5      Tent  pitching  and  making  camp, 

including  the  large  tents. 

Wednesday  and  Friday. 
1  to  3-30  Field  engineering. 

Work  same  as  last  week. 
9  to  10       Night  drill. 
6  Monday,     Wednesday,     Friday, 

battalion  dress  parade.    Each  bat- 

talion once  during  week.     School 

as  usual. 

Saturday  morning,   battalion  re- 

view and  inspection. 


A  NEW  REGIMENT  157 

9th  Week.     Target  practice  on  the  range 

with  ball  cartridges.  9th  week 

If  the  pits  are  not  large  enough  so  that  practice 
each  company  can  have  three  targets,  only 
part  of  the  companies  should  go  at  a  time 
so  as  to  give  that  number  of  targets.  It 
should  be  completed  by  end  of  9th  week  and 
may  have  had  to  come  earlier  for  some 
companies. 

If  the  range  is  right  at  the  instruction 
camp  it  would  be  much  better  to  have  the 
companies  shoot  only  a  couple  of  hours  a  day 
beginning  with  7th  week  and  reduce  the 
other  instruction  by  that  much,  but  so  that 
at  the  end  of  the  9th  week  the  work  accom- 
plished is  the  same. 

10th  Week. 
A.  M. 
7  to  11      Battalion  drill  all  but  15  minutes 

daily,  extended  order  work.    Bat-  loth  week 
talion  against  battalion  at  least 
twice. 

p.  M.       Monday,   battalion   outpost    in- 
1  to    5    struction. 

Wednesday,  march  by  battalion 
with  packs.  Instruction  as  be- 
fore. 


158  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

Tuesday  and  Thursday  from  1  to 
loth  week  5  and  Friday  from  1  to  3  instruc- 

tion by  company.  Gallery  prac- 
tice, pointing  and  aiming  and 
estimating  distance,  each  once. 
Bayonet  work  for  one  hour.  Wall 
scaling  once.  Two  patrol  prob- 
lems for  each  non-commissioned 
officer.  Balance  of  time  field  en- 
gineering work  as  before. 
Friday  9  to  10  P.  M.  Night  drill 
by  battalion. 

Battalions  in  turn  have  battalion 
dress  parade  on  Monday,  Tues- 
day and  Thursday. 
Saturday  morning  battalion  re- 
view and  inspection. 
School,  7  P.  M. 

llth  Week. 

nth  week         Regimental  work.     Colonel  uses  it  to  best 
mental       advantage. 

One  afternoon  practice  march.  Regi- 
mental dress  parade  4  evenings.  School, 
7  P.  M.  as  before. 

Saturday,  regimental  review  and  in- 
spection. 


A  NEW  REGIMENT  159 

12th  Week. 

A  seven  days'  practice  march  under  war  12th 
conditions  with  as  much  instruction  as  pos- 
sible  in  field  service,  care  of  men,  especially 
the  feet,  and  of  course  in  loading  wagons, 
making  and  breaking  camp. 

Marches,  especially  the  first  two  or  three, 
must  not  be  long. 

13th  Week. 

Work  each  forenoon  from  7  to  11-30  in  13th 
what,   by  careful   observation,   the   colonel 
finds  is  most  needed. 

No  work  in  the  afternoon  except  as  fol- 
lows: 

Each  man  to  have  gallery  practice  once, 
ten  shots.  Each  man  to  estimate  distance 
once.  Companies  to  have  bayonet  work  for 
at  least  two  half -hour  periods  each  week  and 
pointing  and  aiming  drill  once  for  some  length 
of  time. 

Dress  parade  by  regiment  three  times 
during  week. 

Regimental  review  and  inspection  Satur- 
day. 

School  as  usual. 


160  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

This  regiment  can  be  used  at  the  end  of 
Results  of  this  three  months.  It  will  not  be  completely 
training  nor  eyen  wejj  trame(j  j^  ft  'ls  believed  to  be 

the  best  that  can  be  done  in  that  time. 

Can  we  have  even  this  much  time  without 
great  sacrifice  and  loss?  It  is  very  doubtful, 
and  yet  it  is  not  believed  practicable  to  use 
volunteers  with  less  training  except  in  forti- 
fications. 

The  work  has  been  very  strenuous  for  all; 
the  weaklings  will  have  been  eliminated. 
Any  one  fit  for  a  soldier  in  war  could  have 
stood  the  strain,  and  the  others  had  better  be 
eliminated  before  taking  the  field. 

If  at  the  end  of  our  13th  week  we  find  we 
have  more  time,  the  work  for  the  week  follow- 
ing should  be  reduced  to  three  hours  per 
day  and  the  schools,  after  that  we  may 
resume  the  long  days  of  work. 


XI 

RECRUITING 

method  of  recruiting  has  a  decided 
JL      influence  on  effective  training.      It  is 
much  harder  to  train  a  company  whose  re- 
cruits dribble  in  a  few  at  a  time  than  one,  all 
of  whose  recruits  for  the  year  come  in  at  once. 
The  best  results  can  be  obtained  if  these 
recruits  can  all  be  had  in  the  fall.     As  stated  When 
before,  the  course  of  instruction  should  run  rfcru,1j8 

'  should 

from  November  1st  to  October  31st.  In  the  j0in 
indoor  season  all  that  part  of  the  instruction 
course  that  can  be  given,  should  be.  It  should 
be  preparatory  to  the  outdoor  work.  The 
foundation  of  sound  training  should  be  laid 
during  this  season;  the  recruit  can  then  be 
given  his  elementary  instruction  and  be  ready 
to  begin  the  outdoor  work  with  the  company. 
The  outdoor  season  is  none  too  long  in  which 
to  go  through  properly  the  whole  course  of 
work  that  should  be  taught  outside. 

If  recruits  are  received  late  in  the  spring 
or  summer  they  are  not  prepared  to  do  the 
work  with  the  company,  they  get  only  part 

161 


162  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

of  it  and  that  in  a  way  that  does  not  give  good 

When      results.     It  is  like  trying  to  teach  Algebra 

5  first,  then  Arithmetic.     Another  drawback  to 

should 

join  this  method  is  that  it  results  in  the  captain's 
not  having  all  his  company  for  this  outdoor 
work.  Our  present  peace  strength  is  so  low 
that  correct  training  in  parts  is  difficult  and 
when  much  below  this  the  training  is  very 
imperfect. 

Most,  if  not  all,  good  captains  very  much 
Recruit  prefer  to  have  their  recruits  directly  on 
enlistment  to  having  them  go  to  a  depot  for 
several  weeks.  The  training  they  receive 
in  these~depots,  in  value,  is  out  of  all  pro- 
portion to  the  time  spent.  In  their  com- 
panies, from  the  very  start,  while  learning  the 
recruit  drill  they  are  learning  much  else  of 
value.  The  recruit  is  better  off  and  more 
contented.  In  his  company  there  is  a  personal 
feeling  for  him  and  interest  in  him  not  found 
at  the  depot. 

The  instruction  and  ways  of  doing  things 
first  learned  are  those  of  his  company,  not 
always  the  case  at  the  depot.  The  few  move- 
ments taught  at  the  recruit  depots  must  be 
taught  exactly  right  if  precise  close  order 
drill  is  to  be  had,  it  is  harder  to  change  a 
recruit's  ways  of  doing  anything  than  to  teach 


RECRUITING  163 

him  the  right  way  from  the  start.  It  has  been 
suggested  that  if  the  depots  are  kept  up,  all 
drill  thereat  except  callisthenics  be  prohibited. 

Recruits  dribbling  in,  waste  effort.  It  is 
as  much  bother  to  a  company  to  train  and  get 
one  recruit  into  the  company  as  a  squad  of 
eight.  The  large  number  of  men  held  at  these 
recruit  depots  would  give  a  very  desirable  in- 
crease in  strength  to  our  companies  if  we 
could  have  them.  The  vaccinations  that 
are  attended  to  at  the  depots  could  just  as  well 
be  done  at  the  posts. 

The  following  is  offered  as  a  plan  of  re- 
cruiting that  it  is  believed,  would  improve  plan  of 
that  branch  of  the  service  and  greatly  im-  * 
prove  the  training  of  our  infantry: 

All  recruiting  stations  and  recruit  depots 
in  time  of  peace  to  be  abolished. 

Each  regiment  in  the  U.  S.  to  be  assigned 
a  permanent  district  within  which  its  recruits 
are  to  be  found.  The  regiment  may  never  be 
stationed  inside  this  district  but  its  recruits 
are  all  to  come  from  there. 

Early  in  November  of  each  year,  each  regi- 
mental commander  to  select  a  few  recruiting 
parties  composed  of  an  officer  and  three  or 
four  men  from  his  regiment  to  beat  up  this 
district  for  recruits.  They  should  visit  the 


164  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

small  towns  as  well  as  have  stations  in   the 

Plan  of       larger  ones.     Before  enlistment  the  recruits  to 

mg  be  physically  examined  by  a  doctor,  either  of 

the  Medical  Corps  or  one  hired  in  the  district. 

These  recruits  are  to  be  sent  directly  to 
their  regiments  in  detachments  as  enlisted  and 
their  training  commenced. 

As  there  are  many  young  men  who  will 
not  enlist  for  service  in  the  U.  S.,  but  do  want 
to  go  on  foreign  service,  each  home  regiment 
will,  in  addition  to  getting  its  own  recruits,  be 
given  the  task  of  getting  a  certain  number  for 
the  Philippines,  Hawaii  and  Panama,  the  num- 
ber being  allotted  by  the  War  Department. 
Men  reenlisting  should  be  sent,  as  far  as  prac- 
ticable, to  foreign  service.  These  latter  will 
be  sent  to  designated  posts  and  held  long 
enough  to  be  properly  equipped,  vaccinated, 
etc.,  and  then  be  sent  to  their  regiments. 

Large  cities  like  New  York  and  Chicago 
should  not  be  assigned  to  a  single  regiment 
but  three  or  four  regiments  to  have  stations 
there  and  part  of  the  outlying  districts  to  be 
theirs  to  beat  up. 

These  recruiting  parties  to  remain  out 
until  they  have  completed  their  quotas  then  to 
return  to  their  stations,  but  never  later  than 
February  1st. 


RECRUITING  165 

This  plan  offers  several  advantages  and 
some  disadvantages,  but  is  believed  to  be  an  Advan- 
improvement. 

plan 

Its  advantages  are: 

All  the  recruits  of  the  company  come  in  at 
one  season  and  that  the  best  one. 

They  come  directly  to  the  company  on 
enlistment. 

Companies  can  be  larger  without  in- 
creasing strength  of  army. 

The  officer  enlisting  them  belongs  to  the 
regiment  as  does  his  recruitingipartyland  will 
exercise  more  care  to  get  only  suitable  men. 

The  recruiting  will  be  more  widely  distrib- 
uted and  as  the  men  go  back  to  their  homes 
knowledge  of  the  service,  and  trained  men  in 
case  of  war,  will  be  generally  distributed. 

Fewer  men  from  the  slums  of  the  big 
cities  and  more  from  small  towns  and  rural 
districts. 

The  men  of  a  regiment  coming  from  one 
locality,  year  after  year,  a  friendly  feeling 
for  the  regiment  should  be  built  up  and  future 
recruiting  assisted  and,  in  case  of  a  great  war, 
every  section  will  have  its  nucleus  of  trained 
men. 

Discipline  will  be  improved  and  desertion 


166  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

diminished.  The  men  will  realize  that  their 
Advan-  comrades  are  from  their  home  section  and 
Pe°Ple  at  home  will  know  of  their  misdeeds. 
Besides  it  is  pleasanter  tor  the  men  to  serve 
with  those  they  have  known  before. 

It  cannot  be  asserted  without  a  trial  that 
this  method  will  be  cheaper  than  the  present 
one  but  the  author  believes  it  will  be. 

To  send  out  these  recruiting  parties  will  be 
a  considerable  expense  but  to  offset  this  there 
is  the  cost  of  the  present  recruiting  stations 
for  rent,  the  difference  in  the  cost  of  com- 
mutation paid  and  actual  cost  at  posts,  the 
travelling  expenses  incurred  sending  recruits 
to  depots,  often  in  an  opposite  direction  from 
that  to  their  future  posts,  the  costs  of  keep- 
ing up  these  depots,  a  large  amount,  the 
loss  of  the  service  of  all  the  recruiting  person- 
nel for  any  other  valuable  purpose  during  the 
year  as  well  as  the  cost  for  the  time  lost  in 
training  of  all  the  recruits. 

The  recruiting  parties  sent  out  by  the 
regiments  are  taken  from  trained  men  at  the 
season  when  they  can  be  best  spared  and 
probably  they  would  be  absent  but  for  a 
relatively  short  time. 

If  this  plan  be  adopted  the  method  will 
work  better  each  year.  The  men  who  have 


RECRUITING  167 

gone  back,  and  even  those  in  the  ranks, 
can  and  will  help  in  the  recruiting,  and  as  the 
number  of  these  increase  recruiting  will  be  t^^8  ' 
more  easily  and  quickly  done.  Each  village 
will  know  that  the  party  will  visit  it  at  a 
certain  season  and  many  will  be  ready  at  once. 

It  will  be  more  expensive  the  first  year  or 
two  than  afterwards.  The  saving  on  deserters 
should  be  large  after  the  first  two  or  three 
years. 

There  are  two  apparent  objections.  That 
there  will  be  no  large  number  of  recruits  in  Discus- 


hand  to  be  sent  to  particular  regiments  in  an  *"* 
emergency.     This  is  of  small  consequence, 
Where  the  regiment  is  wanted  for  a  sudden 
emergency,  the  adding  of  a  large  number  of 
raw  recruits  is  of  no  immediate  advantage. 

Suspending  recruiting  February  1st  may 
result  at  first  in  some  regiments  not  being 
filled  up  but  this  is  doubtful.  Most  of  our 
original  enlistments  at  present  are  made  in 
winter,  and  this  would  be  offset,  if  it  does 
occur,  by  the  other  advantages  enumerated. 

Convenience  of  administration  and  keep- 
ing records  should  have  no  weight  as  against 
efficient  training  for  action,  the  only  reason 
for  our  army's  existence. 


168 


TRAINING  INFANTRY 


Possible 
modifi- 
cation 


If  the  infantry  cannot  have  the  above 
system  the  following  modification  would 
improve  matters. 

Each  company  to  receive  recruits  but 
once  during  the  year,  each  in  its  turn  and 
regiments  as  nearly  at  one  time  as  practi- 
cable. The  recruits  to  be  sent  out  within  one 
week  of  their  receipt  at  the  depots  except 
those  for  foreign  service.  If  the  peace 
strength  of  the  companies  be  kept  at  65,  when 
the  company  is  assigned  recruits  it  should  be 
filled  to  a  strength  of  80  it  will  then  average 
about  65  for  the  year  possibly  a  few  more. 
It  is  not  believed  the  total  enlisted  strength 
of  the  army  would  be  increased  at  all.  It 
would  amount  to  having  the  men  with  com- 
panies instead  of  in  recruit  depots. 

The  above  will  enable  the  captains  to  do 
much  better  training  and  greater  efficiency 
will  result. 

Of  course  those  who  receive  their  recruits 
in  October  or  November  would  have  a  great 
advantage  over  the  others  but  all  could  do 
better  work. 

Recruits  enlisted  in  summer  could  be  held 
much  longer  than  others  and  then,  about 
September  1st,  sent  to  the  regiments  stationed 
in  the  tropics.     It  is  more  comfortable  for  the 


RECRUITING  169 

recruits  if  they  can  reach  those  stations 
in  the  fall  and  get  their  first  hard  drills  and 
become  acclimated  while  weather  conditions 
are  most  favorable.  This  would  give  the 
regiments  at  home  their  recruits  at  a  favorable 
season  if  not  the  best  for  all  of  them. 

Either  of  the  above  changes  can  be  made 
by  a  change  in  regulations  and  orders.  Need  for 

With  our  great  population  and  military  *f 
needs  and  very  small  army  it  is  folly  not  to  use 
what  army  we  have  so  as  to  be  as  well  pre- 
pared for  war  as  conditions  permit. 

In  the  preceding  chapter  it  has  been  shown 
how  important  it  is  that  we  have  some  trained 
men  for  every  new  regiment.  We  must  have 
trained  men  to  fill  the  regular  army  which 
must  bear  the  brunt  of  the  first  attack. 

The  present  law  does  not  provide  this. 
The  enlistment  law  should  be  radically 
changed  to  get  the  best  results  for  training, 
general  efficiency  and  preparedness  for  war. 

All  men  should  enlist  for  5  years.     At 
the  end  of  one  year's  honest  and  faithful  EnlUt- 
service,    except    when    serving    beyond    the  ' 
limits  of  the  U.  S.,  the  man  should,  on  his 
application,   be  granted  a   furlough   for  the 
remaining  four  years;  if  war  breaks  out,  or  be- 
comes so  imminent  as  to  call  for  mobilization, 


170  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

these  furloughs  to  cease  and  the  men  to  rejoin. 
Enlist-  The  men  to  have  the  privilege  of  remaining  on 
aw  in  the  service  if  they  so  desire  and  of  taking 
their  furloughs  at  the  end  of  any  completed 
year  of  service.  Discharges  not  to  be  given 
the  men  until  the  end  of  their  full  five  years. 
Hence  these  men  can  not  reenlist  in  another 
organization  while  on  furlough,  and  there  can 
be  no  doubt  of  their  status  and  liability  for 
punishment  as  deserters  if  they  fail  to  re- 
join when  called. 

For  the  present,  men  should  not  be  re- 
Men  on  quired  to  take  the  furlough  and  reenlistment 
furlough  g^ouid  not  kg  prohibited,  but  remaining  in 
service  with  the  colors  over  two  years  in  time 
of  peace  should  not  be  encouraged;  later, 
if  found  practicable  to  get  sufficient  recruits, 
reenlistment  for  all,  except  non-commissioned 
officers  and  certain  mechanics  who  first  enlist 
after  that  date,  should  be  prohibited.  Men 
who  have  enlisted  with  the  understanding  that 
they  can  remain  in  service  until  retired,  pro- 
vided they  behave  themselves  properly  and 
are  physically  fit,  should  be  honestly  treated  ; 
they  have  an  implied  contract  at  the  least. 

Time  on  furlough  not  to  count  for  retire- 
ment or  increase  of  pay,  and  men  on  such 
furlough  not  to  be  counted  in  strength  of 
company. 


RECRUITING  171 

Recruits  on  foreign  service  should  have 
the  privilege  of  the  furlough  only  after  two  Men  on 
years  service,  and  men  with  regiments  in  the 
U.  S.  who  wish  to  remain  in  the  service,  after 
one  year's  service  should  be  encouraged  or 
required  to  transfer  to  foreign  service  for  the 
next  two  years. 

Men  whose  service  in  their  first  year  has 
not  been  satisfactory  and  who  are  not  fairly 
trained  should  be  required  to  serve  two  years 
before  being  granted  a  furlough.  The  law 
should  also  provide  that  men,  whose 
conduct  is  found  unsatisfactory  by  a  board  of 
officers  and  the  finding  is  approved  by  the 
colonel,  may  be  furloughed  at  any  time  after 
two  years  service  whether  the  man  desires 
it  or  not. 

It  is  believed  the  plan  would  work  if  no 
pay  were  given  men  on  furlough,  but  if  each 
be  paid  ten  dollars  each  six  months  on  report- 
ing his  address  by  mail  to  the  adjutant  of  the 
post  it  would  help  in  finding  him  when  wanted 
and  might  be  an  inducement  to  some  to  en- 
list. 

An  effort  should  be  made  to  get  young  men 
as  recruits.  Boys  of  eighteen  or  over  if  physi- 
cally strong  should  be  encouraged  to  enlist. 


172  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

Young  men  are  easier  to  train  and  for  a  longer 
Men  on  time  afterwards  are  available  for  service. 

We  need  a  reserve  but  no  men  should  be 
enlisted  directly  for  it.  The  reserve  for  the 
regular  service  should  be  our  men  on  furlough. 
Men  too  long  out  of  service  and  advanced  in 
years  are  not  what  is  needed  for  the  regular 
service  which  must  be  ready  at  short  notice 
to  face  serious  war. 

The  reasons  for  the  foregoing  recommen- 
Reasons  dations  as  they  appear  to  the  author  are: 

for  enlist- 

ment  1.     Five  years  is  as  long  as  the  average 

plan  man  is  willing  to  pledge  his  future  for  military 

service  unless  he  means  to  make  it  a  life  oc- 
cupation. The  latter  class  is  not  the  best  for 
the  government.  Young  men  are  the  best  for 
the  ranks  in  time  of  war.  Men  who  serve  only 
long  enough  to  be  trained  for  the  work  are  to 
be  desired.  It  results  in  a  much  greater  num- 
ber of  trained  men  being  available  in  time 
of  war  and  is  much  cheaper,  for  it  reduces 
current  pay  and  the  retired  list. 

2.  The  great  importance  of  having  as 
many  trained  men  as  possible  and  having  them 
dispersed  through  the  country  to  help  in  the 
formation  of  the  new  regiments  at  the  out- 
break of  war  is  apparent  to  any  one  who 
thinks  on  this  subject. 


RECRUITING  173 

3.  If  recruits   be   received   during   the 
winter  months  only,  the  organizations  can  Reasons 
follow  a  prescribed  course  of  instruction  and 
complete  it  annually.     If  recruits  dribble  in  pian 
throughout  the  year  a  proper  course  of  in- 
struction cannot  be  satisfactorily  given  in 

that  time. 

4.  At  the  outbreak  of  war,  it  is  of  vital 
importance  that  we  have  as  strong  a  force 
as  possible  of  men  fully  ready  trained  and 
equipped.     The  losses  at  first  in  this  force  will 
be  -heavy.      If  green  recruits,  enough  to  fill 
the  regular  organizations    to    war    strength 
and  to  make  good  the  early  losses,  be  poured 
in  on  them  they  will  cease  to  be  trained  or- 
ganizations.    A  reserve  is  a  necessity.     This 
will  provide  it  at  small  cost. 

5.  Many  excellent  and  patriotic  young 
men  are  willing  to  serve  a  short  time  in  the 
army  for  the  experience  and  training.     Four 
years,  however,  is  longer  than  they  are  willing 
to  postpone  settling  down  to  their  real  life's 
work.     These  are  the  men  it  is  most  desirable 
to  get  into  the  army,  not  as  professional 
soldiers,  but  as  a  trained  reserve  for  war. 
For  the  first  years  they  are  a  reserve  for  the 
regular  companies,  then  they  become  avail- 
able for  officers  or  non-commisioned  officers 


174  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

of  volunteers.  This  class  of  young  men  will 
Reasons  enlist  much  more  freely  when  they  can  do  so 
ment  "  and  lose  only  one  year  from  civil  pursuits. 

plan  6.       Enlisting  men  as  young  as  they  are 

physically  fit  interferes  less  with  their  civil 
careers,  hence  will  get  us  more  desirable  re- 
cruits. The  physical  and  mental  discipline  a 
boy  thus  gets  will  help  him  in  his  future  work 
and  the  younger  he  gets  it,  so  long  as  it  does 
not  interfere  with  his  schooling,  the  more  it 
will  be  worth  to  him.  Taking  the  recruit 
young,  the  five  years  while  his  military  ser- 
vice is  with  the  regulars  are  the  five  best 
for  that  purpose.  Later  when  older,  more 
developed  mentally  and  matured  in  judgment 
he  is  best  in  higher  rank  than  private  with  the 
volunteers.  If  he  enters  at  18  he  is  available 
at  23  for  the  volunteers  or  national  guard  and 
has  at  least  seven  years  left  in  which  he  can  be 
considered  at  his  best. 

7.  The  provision  for  letting  men  out  at 
the  end  of  one  year,  provided  their  conduct  has 
been  good  and  they  are  fairly  instructed,  will 
be  a  great  aid  to  discipline  and  a  preventative 
of  desertion.  A  good  many  young  men  enter 
the  service  thoughtlessly  and  find  after  a  few 
weeks  that  the  life  is  different  from  what  they 
expected.  They  look  ahead  to  over  three 


RECRUITING  175 

years  more  of  it  and  the  weak  ones  desert. 

They  are  not  vicious  nor  criminal  as  a  rule  but  Reasons 

this  step  injures  them  seriously:  they  become  forenll8t> 

ment 

prisoners  or  fugitives,  and  either  will  decrease  pian 
the  man's  moral  stamina  and  self  respect. 
This  provision  will  greatly  reduce  this. 
The  man  will  see  that  he  has  only  to  behave 
himself  for  the  rest  of  the  year  to  return  to  civil 
life  with  a  clean  record.  The  great  expense 
resulting  from  desertion  will  be  largely 
eliminated.  The  men  will  be  more  contented, 
they  will  feel  they  can  leave  in  a  short  time  if 
they  wish,  which  will  tend  to  decrease  the 
desire  to  quit.  This  does  not  prevent  those 
staying  in  the  service  who  wish  to  do  so.  A 
few  old  soldiers  are  desirable. 

Less  than  one  year's  training  is  not  suffi- 
cient in  which  to  cover  properly  the  course  the 
infantry  soldier  should  have.  Two  years  is 
necessary  to  make  a  good  job  of  it.  But  we 
need  more  men  who  can  be  used  in  war. 
With  some  thoroughly  trained  men  in  the 
ranks  it  is  believed  better  to  have  100  others 
of  one  year's  training  than  fifty  of  two  or 
more. 

The  national  guard  should  have  the  same 
period  of  five  years  for  enlistment  with  a  pro- 
vision for  inactive  service,  except  in  war, 


176 


TRAINING  INFANTRY 


Enlist- 
ments for 
the  na- 
tional 
guard 


after  two  years  of  service,  unless  the  man  has 
had  service  in  some  other  organization,  as 
a  college  battalion.  Less  than  two  years  is 
not  enough  training  to  be  of  value  where  so 
little  time  per  year  is  devoted  to  it. 

While  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  training, 
there  is  another  provision  that  should  be  in  the 
enlistment  law;  that  is,  that  every  man  who 
enlists  for  five  years,  and  is  in  service  when  war 
breaks  out,  shall  be  liable  for  service  for  at 
least  one  year  thereafter  no  matter  when 
his  term  expires.  At  the  outbreak  of  a 
great  war  is  no  time  to  discharge  trained  men. 


T 


XII 

IN  CONCLUSION 

IME  is  wasted  at  most  posts  on  some 

things  that  are  of  little  value  compared  Relative 
with  the  time  spent  on  them. 

"Butt's  Manual"  is  fine  callisthenic  drill 
and  at  proper  times  should  be  practiced. 
It  would  be  just  as  valuable  and  even  more  so 
if,  instead  of  having  the  men  learn  to  go 
through  it  all  without  command,  an  in- 
structor gave  the  movements  and  the  men 
executed  them  purely  for  physical  drill.  The 
cadence  amounts  to  little,  but  executing  them 
so  as  to  exercise  properly  the  desired  muscles 
is  important. 

Many  captains  spend  a  great  deal  of  time 
practicing  this  so  that  their  companies  can 
go  through  the  whole  series  without  com- 
mand and  to  music.  It  is  pretty,  and  for 
the  chorus  in  a  musical  comedy  act  might 
be  a  success,  but  for  soldiers  it  is  a  waste 
of  valuable  drill  time  that  could  and  should 
be  put  to  better  use. 

Our  inspectors  have  had  something  to  do 
with  this,  and  county  fairs  and  similar  shows, 
177 


178  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

more.  The  narrow  scope  of  instruction  fol- 
lowed in  some  companies,  and  the  seeking 
for  the  easiest  way  to  kill  the  drill  hour  by  a 
few,  has  helped  to  give  this  its  prominence  in 
our  training. 

Our  target  practice  is  open  to  criticism  in 

Target     some  respects.     Its  importance  can  not  be 

B  overestimated  and  it  must  not  be  slighted, 

but  rational  methods  should  be  followed.     It 

is    necessary    to    appreciate    fully   what   is 

required  and  wanted. 

The  individual  man  must  be  a  fairly  good 
marksman  for  two  reasons:  so  that  he  can 
place  his  shots  in  a  designated  locality,  and 
to  give  him  confidence  in  himself.  The 
better  the  men  can  shoot,  other  things  being 
equal,  the  more  confidence  they  have  in  them- 
selves and  in  each  other.  For  practical  re- 
sults on  the  battlefield  an  expert  rifleman  is  of 
little  if  any  more  value  than  a  marksman. 
Good,  fair  shooting  by  every  man  in  the 
company  is  what  is  desired. 

On  the  battlefield  much  depends  on  the 
confirmed  habit,  this  habit-forming  can  not 
be  done  on  the  target  range,  but  throughout 
the  year's  work.  Not  to  exceed  two  weeks 
a  year  should  be  allowed  to  any  company  for 
known  distance  practice  on  the  range.  If 


IN  CONCLUSION  179 

its  work  during   the   rest   of   the   year  has 
been  properly  done,  this  is  sufficient.     The  Target 
rest  of  the  time  is  needed  for  other  work.  practlce 
But  the  time  put  on  field  firing,  where  done  in 
the  solution  of  correct  tactical  problems,  can- 
not well  be  excessive.     The  more  of  this  the 
better. 

The  law  granting  extra  pay  to  expert 
shots,  sharpshooters  and  marksmen  is  not  Extra 
believed  good  in  its  effect;  it  gives  undue  pay 
importance  to  range  firing.  An  expert  rifle- 
man without  other  training  and  discipline 
is  of  but  little  value  on  the  battlefield,  while 
even  a  second  class  shot,  well  trained  and 
disciplined,  is  infinitely  his  superior  as  a  sol- 
dier. This  law  should  be  amended  so  as  to 
divide  the  men  into  two  classes :  the  best  men  in 
each  company  to  be  rated  as  1st  class.  To  be 
so  rated  the  man  must  be  thoroughly  well 
trained  in  all  his  duties,  of  excellent  character 
and  1st  classman  or  better  in  target  shooting. 
The  extra  pay  for  1st  classmen  to  be  so 
alloted  as  to  cost  the  government  no  more 
than  is  now  paid  for  higher  classifications. 
Men  have  drawn  this  extra  pay  for  qualifica- 
tion as  shots  who  were  of  but  little  account 
as  soldiers. 

Rifle  firing  among  young  men  in  civil  life 


180  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

should  be  encouraged.  It  is  a  necessary  part 
Rifle  of  a  soldier's  training  and  is  that  much  ac- 
comge  comPlisned  toward  making  efficient  soldiers 
titions  of  them  if  the  occasion  arises. 

Our  rifle  competitions  take  too  much  time 
and  are  allowed  to  interfere  too  much  with 
regular  training.  Officers  should  not  be 
allowed  to  compete.  Their  work  during 
this  season  is  with  their  companies;  they 
should  be  learning  the  duties  of  an  officer  not 
that  of  the  private  in  the  ranks.  It  is  un- 
doubted that  a  man  can  not  make  much  of  a 
success  teaching  what  he  does  not  know. 
The  officer  must  know  how  to  shoot  well 
enough  to  be  an  instructor,  he  must  know 
the  theory  and  have  the  knack  of  instructing. 
He  does  not  need  to  neglect  his  regular  work 
for  weeks  at  a  time  several  summers  to  acquire 
this  at  competitions. 

The  best  company  instructor  in  rifle 
firing  the  author  ever  saw  on  a  target  range 
was  a  first  sergeant  who  himself  never  made 
better  than  marksman.  The  company  was 
very  short  on  sharpshooters  and  experts  but 
was  still  shorter  on  3d  class  men.  The  poorest 
instructor  he  ever  saw  was  an  officer  whose 
breast  on  state  occasions  was  covered  with 
big  medals  for  shooting.  He  had  to  spare  his 


IN  CONCLUSION  181 

own  eyes  so  as  to  make  phenomenal  scores; 
the  instruction  of  the  new  men  in  the  company 
was  of  little  importance  compared  with  the 
former. 

The  proper  garrisoning  of  the  army,  to 
avoid  so  much  necessary  labor  and  afford  Proper 
better  opportunities  for  training,  has  been  gar"~ 

•oning 

given  great  attention  by  the  War  Depart- 
ment. May  it  soon  meet  with  success.  But 
much  can  be  done  even  under  present  con- 
ditions to  help  in  this  matter.  This  beautiful 
parking  perfectly  kept  is  pretty,  but  it  takes 
ground  needed  for  other  purposes  and  re- 
quires an  immense  amount  of  "fatigue" 
labor.  This  labor  could  be  reduced:  the 
parks  would  not  be  so  pretty  but  military 
efficiency  would  be  greater.  For  which  does 
the  government  spend  its  money? 

Our  companies  should  be  increased  in  size 
to  100  men  in  peace,  in   war  to   150.     Our  Strength 
companies  are  now  too  small  for  good  train-  of  the 

company 

mg;  it  requires  too  many  new  men  to  raise 
them  to  war  strength,  and  the  present  strength 
is  wasteful  of  money  and  effort. 

With  the  companies  at  a  fixed  peace 
strength  of  65  it  means  much  of  the  time  still 
less.  There  are  not  enough  men  to  drill  in  the 
regular  platoon  formations.  In  our  extended 


182  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

order  work  the  captain  is  reduced  to  the 
Strength  capacity  of  a  platoon  commander  and  pla- 
toon commanders  are  out  of  a  job.     These 

company 

men  do  not  get  practice  in  the  handling  of 
their  proper  units  and  it  can  not  fail  to  di- 
minish their  interest  and  enthusiasm  and  result 
in  poorer  work  as  well  as  in  incomplete  work. 

In  the  case  of  war  we  shall  need  our  regular 
organizations  very  promptly  and  as  efficient 
as  possible.  At  the  same  time  these  organi- 
zations are  certain  to  lose  many  officers  taken 
for  other  duties.  The  addition  of  much  more 
than  one  man  to  each  two  then  in  ranks,  even 
if  they  have  been  previously  trained,  is  a 
serious  blow  to  efficiency.  The  new  men  must 
either  be  untrained  or  men  from  a  reserve. 
If  from  a  reserve  they  are  rusty  on  many 
points  and  are  apt  to  be  strange  to  the  officers 
who  change  in  a  company  so  frequently. 
Adding  50  reservists  to  a  company  of  100  men 
will  do  no  harm ;  adding  85  to  a  company  of  65 
will  be  very  different  and,  if  the  men  added 
in  the  second  case  be  untrained  recruits,  we 
shall  not  have  a  trained  unit  but  a  school  of 
instruction. 

A  great  objection  to  our  present  strength 
is  the  fact  that  it  is  so  wasteful  of  money  and 
effort. 


IN  CONCLUSION  183 

The  object  of  the  army  is  to  have  a  trained 
force  ready  for  action  and  to  help  train  the  Strength 
great  mass  of  men  that  will  be  called  out  in 
case  of  war.  We  want  as  many  trained  men 
as  possible,  both  for  the  ranks  and  to  help 
prepare  others.  Since  we  cannot  have  a 
large  army  we  should  do  all  we  are  able  with 
what  we  have. 

We  have  in  the  regular  army  an  expensive 
plant;  the  interest  on  cost  and  overhead 
charges  form  a  large  part  of  the  annual  cost, 
the  cost  for  privates  is  relatively  small.  There 
is  a  demand  and  need  for  the  output,  trained 
soldiers;  yet  we  produce  less  than  half  of  what 
we  could  for  the  same  cost,  except  pay  of  pri- 
vates. With  no  increase  in  interest  on  plant 
and  pay  of  officers  and  senior  non-commis- 
sioned officers  and  administration,  we  could 
more  than  double  our  output  of  trained  men 
and  more  than  double  our  efficiency  for  war, 
and  the  training  would  be  much  better. 

A  private  corporation  doing  business  this 
way  would  probably  go  into  bankruptcy. 

One  thing  should  be  made  a  fixed  policy 
and  made  positive  law  now  so  that  in  case  of  a  Ne™ or- 
real  war  it  will  be  carried  out.     All  organiza-  *.™zl 
tions  received  into  the  service  for  the  war  must  in  war 
be  at  full  strength. 


184  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

We  shall  require  in  such  a  war  a  very  large 
New  or-  army  which  means  the  utilizing  of  all  the 
fkmZ<      organizations    we    now    have    and    forming 
in  war     many  new  ones.     By  filling  all  existing  or- 
ganizations to  war  strength  we  reduce  the 
number  of  new  ones  to  be  formed  and  utilize 
their  training  capacity  to  the  best  advantage; 
they  can  not  be  taken  at  their  existing  strength 
and  state  of  training  and  have  much  value 
in  battle.     We  shall  need  so  many  men  that 
must  be   trained   that   we   must  use   what 
means  of  training  we  have  to  its  utmost. 

By  reducing  the  number  of  new  organiza- 
tions, more  and  better  officers  can  be  used  for 
their  training;  there  will  be  more  chance  of  get- 
ting the  necessary  instructors  for  them.  A 
few  of  the  right  kind  of  men  can  fit  for  service 
a  full  strength  regiment  as  well  as  one  of  half 
strength  and  better  officers  and  non-com- 
missioned officers  can  be  found  for  it,  for 
there  will  be  fewer  required  and  the  average 
can  be  higher. 

Besides  the  difference  in  cost,  administra- 
tion, road  space  on  the  march,  and  the 
tactical  handling  when  massed  in  great 
numbers,  are  of  great  importance  and  are 
much  better  done  with  fewer  organizations. 
Upon  the  army  today  rests  a  great  re- 


IN  CONCLUSION  185 

sposibility.  With  our  small  numbers  and 
many  faults  in  organization  and  stations  we  T1^ 
must  be  as  nearly  ready  for  a  great  war  as  pos- 
sible; not  only  personally  ready  but  do  what 
we  can  to  make  the  organization  of  a  great 
and  efficient  army,  if  it  ever  becomes  neces- 
sary, a  possibility. 

This  means  we  must  study  and  know  our 
profession  thoroughly,  give  a  helping  hand 
to  the  national  guard  when  and  where  we 
can  and  to  any  other  organization  that  does 
something  toward  the  military  training  of 
men  who  may  make  up  this  great  army  if  it 
has  to  be  raised.  We  must  remember  that 
there  are  many  things  to  be  taught  a  man 
before  he  is  an  efficient  soldier;  all  he  learns 
before  he  joins  a  volunteer  regiment  is  that 
much  of  a  help. 

But  our  chief  duty,  after  personal  quali- 
fication, is  to  make  the  best  soldiers  possible 
out  of  the  men  under  us.  This  is  what  we 
are  paid  for  and  this  is  worth  much  more  to 
our  country  than  anything  else  we  can  do  in 
peace.  We  should  make  the  best  we  can  of 
the  conditions  as  they  exist  at  our  post, 
they  may  not  be  favorable  for  getting  the  best 
results  but  that  is  no  reason  for  our  not  get- 
ting the  best  possible. 


186  TRAINING  INFANTRY 

The  quitter,  the  man  who  does  as  little  as 

The  ^      possible,  who  always  wants  to  be  away  from 

re™Vn     troops  because  things  are  not  as  he  thinks 

sibility     they  should  be,  or  who  does  nothing  because 

he  cannot  do  it  exactly  as  laid  down,  is  a 

curse  to  the  army;  he    should    leave    the 

service  and  sell  ribbons. 

Rational,  systematic  training  besides 
producing  the  greatest  military  efficiency 
will  keep  the  men  interested  in  their  work  and 
will  occupy  more  of  their  time;  the  men  will 
be  more  contented.  Interested  and  contented 
men  will  furnish  a  smaller  sick  report  and 
fewer  deserters.  There  will  be  less  dissipation 
hence  less  punishment. 

Discontent,  ennui,  a  constant  grouch, 
injure  digestion  and  bring  on  other  physical 
ills.  This  is  another  responsibility  resting 
on  officers — that  for  the  men  under  them. 
With  young  men  we  have  a  great  influence 
on  their  characters  and  future  careers.  We 
make  men  better  fit  for  life's  work  or  turn 
them  back  worse  than  we  found  them. 

To  the  credit  of  the  army  it  can  be  said 
that  in  most  cases  an  enlistment  served  there- 
in is  a  benefit  to  the  majority  who  so  serve. 
The  men  are  physically  and  mentally  better 
for  a  short  service  and  I  believe  morally. 


IN  CONCLUSION  187 

There   is   certainly  less   excessive   drinking 
among  our  soldiers  in  nearly  all  regiments  The 
than  in  a  corresponding  number  of  civilians  *™^n- 
in  the  same  vicinity,  and  the  same  is  true  as  sibility 
to  other  vices.     In  personal  cleanliness,  de- 
cency and  politeness  they  are  far  ahead  of  the 
average  man  of  the  same  social  standing  as 
that  from   which   they   come.     Many    em- 
ployers have  recognized  this,  and  are  giving 
preference    to    discharged    soldiers    in    em- 
ployment.    The   uniform    makes    the    man 
conspicuous  and   one   drunken  soldier  in  a 
thousand  will  call  for  more  attention  than 
ten  drunken  civilians  out  of  five  hundred. 

The  duty  of  trying  to  improve  the  men 
morally  is  a  military  as  well  as  a  moral  duty. 
It  is  in  line  with  what  has  been  said  before: 
the  better  the  man,  the  more  valuable  the 
soldier,  the  more  he  can  be  taught,  the  more 
he  can  help  to  train  others,  and  the  more 
likely  is  he  to  remain  in  physical  condition 
to  be  fit  for  service  in  the  field. 

"We  have  a  profession  not  a  trade."  Let 
us  take  it  seriously,  appreciate  our  responsi- 
bility, make  the  best  of  conditions  as  we 
find  them,  improving  them  where  we  can, 
and  train  ourselves  and  those  under  us  to  be 
THE  BEST  INFANTRY. 


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IAN  17 


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inr 

20  1942 


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